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THE    AZTECS 


THE    AZTECS 


THEIR 


HISTORY,    MANNERS,    AND     CUSTOMS 

jFrom  tjjc  JrencI)  of 
LUCIEN     BIART 


AUTHORIZED    TRANSLATION 
BY 

J.    L.    GARNER 


CHICAGO 
A.  C.   McCLURG  AND   COMPANY 

1887 


Copyright 

By  A.  C.  McClurg  and  Company 

a.  d.  iS86 


TO 

DOCTOR    E.-T.     HAMY, 

THE   LEARNED    CURATOR 

OF   THE 

fHusec  tj'5£tfinagrapT)ic, 

AN    AFFECTIONATE    TESTIMONIAL     OF     RESPECT. 

LUCIEN    BIART. 


PREFACE. 


\  \  /"HILE  modern  Mexico  and  its  inhabitants 
are  to-day  well  known,  Mexico  of  the  past, 
the  Mexico  of  the  Aztecs,  is  almost  ignored. 
Educated  people  have  a  vague  idea  that  in  15 19 
the  Spaniards  found  on  the  new  continent  a 
vast  civilized  empire,  governed  by  a  ruler  named 
Montezuma,  whom  they  dethroned.  Beyond  this 
they  know  nothing. 

Having  contributed  toward  extending  a  knowl- 
edge  of  the  Mexico  of  the  present,  I  intend  to 
depict  (the  task  is  not,  I  think,  too  ambitious) 
the  country  as  it  was  when  conquered  by  the 
Spaniards.  Availing  myself  of  the  observations 
of  those  who  saw  it  in  its  splendor,  —  Cortez, 
Bernal  Diaz,  Ojeda,  the  anonymous  Conqueror, 
and  of  the  later  works  of  Tezozomoc,  Duran, 
Acosta,  Gomara,  Olmos,  Herrera,  Sahagun,  Tor- 
quemada,  Clavigero,  Ramirez,  Orozco,  etc, —  I 
shall  attempt  to  re-clothe  with  life  a  people  whose 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

descendants,  oppressed  by  the  sons  of  their  an- 
cient conquerors,  have  themselves  forgotten,  not 
only  their  history,  but  even  their  name. 

Although  special  scholars  may  find  a  resume 
of  their  studies  and  possibly  some  new  facts  in 
the  work,  it  was  undertaken  principally  for  readers 
unfamiliar  with  the  history  of  the  primitive  peo- 
ples of  America.  I  might  have  repeated  the 
names  of  my  authorities  in  foot-notes  as  they 
occurred  (especially  the  names  of  Tezozomoc, 
Sahagun,  Torquemada,  Clavigero,  and  Orozco, 
writers  whose  works,  excepting  those  of  the  two 
first,  have  not  been  translated  into  French);  but 
numerous  notes  render  the  simply  curious  reader 
impatient,  and  students  of  American  history  are 
familiar  with  the  sources  to  which  I  have  been 
compelled  to  resort;  consequently  I  believed  it 
useless  to  refer  to  them  repeatedly.  However, 
as  Acosta  has  been  accused  (and  not  without 
reason,  it  is  true)  of  having  tranquilly  copied 
Duran  and  Tezozomoc,  who  in  turn  had  copied 
the  anonymous  author  of  the  manuscript  known 
as  the  "Codex  Ramirez,"  and  as  Torquemada  has 
been  charged  with  having  received  his  inspira- 
tion   from   Sahagun,  and   Clavigero  with   having 


PREFACE.  IX 

adopted  Torquemada  as  his  model,  I  am  anxious 
to  forestall  all  accusation  of  this  sort. 

I  therefore  confess  to  my  readers  that  I  was 
compelled — a  necessity  which  historians  cannot 
escape  —  to  imitate,  amplify,  reduce,  commentate, 
translate,  and  remould  such  passages  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  fathers  in  the  history  of  New  Spain 
as  might  aid  me  in  my  undertaking,  in  order 
to  add  them  to  what  I  myself  saw  or  discovered. 
I  might  have  invented,  it  is  true ;  for  no  subject 
furnishes  a  better  field  than  does  history  for  the 
play  of  the  imagination.  But  I  have  not  done 
so,  —  recalling  the  fact  that  one  of  the  kini^s  of 
the  Colhuas  decreed  that  inaccurate  historians 
should  be  punished  with  death. 


NOTE.  —  The  translator  is  under  obligations  to  Mr. 
J.  J.  LALOR,  editor  of  the  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Political 
Science,"  .for  careful  help   in  revision. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


Pagk 


Analiuae,  or  Mexico.  —  Its  Situation  and  Geographic  Di- 
visions. —  Aspect  and  Productions  of  its  Different  Zones. 

—  The  Cordilleras.  —  Lakes,  Streams,  and  Rivers.  —  From 

the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  17 

CHAPTER    II. 

First  Inhabitants  of  Anahuac. — The  Giants.  —  The  Mayas. 

—  The  Tarascos.  -  The  Otomites. —  The  Chichimecs. — 
The  Alcolluias.  —  The  Tlaxcaltecs. —  Appearance  of  the 
Nahuan  Tribes  or  Nahuatlacs 33 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  Aztecs,  or  Mexicans.  —  Their  original  Country.  —  Their 
Peregrinations.  —  Foundation  of  Tenochtitlan. —  Political 
State  of  Anahuac  in  1357.  —  The  Calendar 46 

CHAPTER     IV. 

First  Aztec  Kings.  —  Acamapictli. —  Iluitzilihuitl. — Quimal- 
popoca.  Itzacoatl.  —  Moteuczoma  llhuicamina. —  Axaya- 
catl.  —  Tizoc.  —  Ahuitzotl.  —  Retrospect 68 

C  H  A  FT  E  R    V. 

Moteuczoma  Xocoyotzin.  —  His  Coronation.  —  Ceremonial  of 
his  Court.  —  His  Palaces.  — The  Aspect  of  Mexico.  —  Ar- 
rival of  the  Spaniards.  —  Cuitlahuatzin.  —  Cuauhtemotzin.  — 
End  of  the  Aztec  Empire 86 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Pagb 

Cosmogony.  — Four  Ages  of  the  Universe.  —  Aztec  Mythol- 
ogy. -    Teotl.  —  The  Soul.  —  The  Deluge.  — The  Gods      .     104 

CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Idols.  —  Worship.  — The  Great  Temple  of  Mexico.  — 
Smaller  Temples  and  Monuments.  —  Priests  and  Priest- 
esses. —  Religious  Orders 140 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Human  Sacrifices. — Offerings. — Gladiatorial  Combats. — 
Number  of  Victims  annually  Sacrificed. —  Feast  of  the 
Fire. —  Feasts  of  Tezcatlipoca  and  of  Huitzilipochtli. — 
Penances 161 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Election   of    Kings.  —  Coronation.  —  Royal   Counsellors.  — 
Ambassadors.  —  Couriers.  —  The  Nobility.  —  The  People. 
-Taxes  and  Tributes 180 

CHAPTER    X. 

Births.  —  Baptisms.  —  Marriages.  —  Wedding  Ceremonies.  — 
Polygamy. — Burials.  —  Cremation 196 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Education.  —  Counsels  of  a  Father  to  his  Son.  —  Counsels  of 
a  Mother  to  her  Daughter.  —  Public  Schools.  —  Seminaries     213 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Justice.  —  The  Tribunals  and  the  Judges.  —The  Laws.  —  The 
Slaves. — Punishments.  —  Prisons 226 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Military  Institutions.  — The  Army  and  its  Leaders.  —  Offen- 
sive and  Defensive  Arms.  —  Standards  -Declaration  of 
War.  —  Beginning  of  a  Campaign.  —  Fortification     .     .     .      238 


CONTENTS.  xill 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Page 

Agriculture.  —  The  Chinampas  or  Floating  Isles.  — Sowing. 

—  Gardens.  —  Domestic  Animals.  —  Cochineal.  —  Hunting. 

—  Fishing.  —  Commerce.  —  Markets.  —  Roads.  —  Bridges     254 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Trades.  —  Stone-Cutters.  —  Jewellers.  —  Potters.  —  Weavers. 

—  Physicians.  —  Baths.  —  Bleeding.  —  Food.  —  Costumes. 

—  Furniture 280 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Language.  —  Poetry.  —  Eloquence.  —  Theatre.  —  Music.  — 
Dances.  —  Sports —  Amusements 296 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Hieroglyphic  Paintings.  —  Paper.  —  Colors.  —  Signs.  —  Nu- 
meration.—  Sculpture.  —  The  Art  of  the  Goldsmith. — 
Feather  Mosaics.  —  Architecture.  —  Conclusion  ....     313 


Index 337 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Part  of  a  ruin  in  Uxmal 34 

Pyramid  of  Mayapan 35 

Indian  Man  and  Woman  of  the  Village  of  Amatlan  .  47 

The  Aztec  Cycle 61 

The  Aztec  Year 6$ 

Days  of  the  Aztec  Calendar 65 

Fac-simile    of    a    Plan    of    Tenochtitlan,    executed 

shortly  after  the  Conquest 96 

Tezcatlipoca.    Terra-cotta  found  in  Nahualac  hy  M. 

Charnay 114 

Quetzacoatl.    Aztec  Statuette  of  terra-cotta,  found 

near  Mexico 120 

Tijvloc.     Found  near  Oazaca 124 

Cross  of  Tlaloc.     Found  in  the  Toltec  Ruins  near 

Teotihuacan 125 

Centeotl.     Stone   Statue,   found  in  the  Valley  of 

Mexico 129 

Huitzilipochtli.     From  a  Manuscript 132 

Miquiztli.    A  Statue  found  near  Tehuacan,  of  which 

there  is  a  Cast  in  the  Museum  of  Trocadero  .  141 


l6  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 


Ahuitzotl  and   Huitzilihuitl,  crowned  with  the  co- 

pilli  j  also  the  hieroglyphics  of  their  names    .  1 84 

Offensive  and  Defensive  Arms  of  the  Aztecs  .     .     .  242 

Terra-cotta  Head  of  Soldier  with  Helmet     .     .     .  243 

Hieroglyphics 318 

Numeration 319 

Map  of  the  Valley  of  Anahuac 334 


THE   AZTECS, 


CHAPTER    I. 

Anahuac,  or  Mexico.  —  Its  Situation  and  Geographical 
Divisions.  —  Aspect  and  Productions  of  its  Different 
Zones.  —  The  Cordilleras.  --  Lakes,  Rivers,  Streams. 
—  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

THE  vast  country  which  we  call  Mexico,. from 
one  of  the  two  names  borne  by  the  Aztec 
or  Mexican  nation  who  occupied  it  when  it  was 
conquered  by  the  Spaniards,  was  then  called 
Anahuac,  —  a  Toltec  word,  which  means  "situ- 
ated near  the  water."  This  name,  which  at  first 
was  applied  only  to  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  on 
account  of  its  lakes,  was  in  time  extended  to  all 
the  territory  included  between  the  16th  and  the 
38th  degree  of  north  latitude,  —  a  country  which, 
baptized  anew  by  Hernando  Cortez,  afterward 
became  known  as  New  Spain. 

Owing  to  its  geographical  situation,  and  above 
all  to  the  chain  of  mountains  which  extends  from 
one  extremity  of  it  to  the  other,  Anahuac  pos- 
sesses almost  every  climate.      Hence  at  an  early 


1 8  THE   AZTECS. 

date  its  inhabitants  divided  it  into  three  principal 
regions,  —  the  Warm  Lands,  the  Temperate 
Lands,  and  the  Cold  Lands.  The  Warm  Lands, 
which  extend  along  the  coast  of  the  two  great 
oceans,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  comprise  all  the 
country  with  an  elevation  not  greater  than  one 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level.  Of  unimagin- 
able fertility,  in  part  covered  with  venerable  for- 
ests, the  Warm  Lands  supply  commerce  with 
logwood,  mahogany,  cedar,  cochineal,  indigo, 
sugar,  cotton,  cocoanuts,  vanilla,  tortoise-shell, 
pearls,  etc.  Unfortunately,  the  yellow  fever,  or 
vomito  negro,  —  a  disease  apparently  unknown 
to  the  ancient  inhabitants,  and  which  attacks 
foreigners  only,  —  prevails  here.  This  scourge 
rages  only  during  the  great  heat  of  summer. 
From  the  month  of  October  to  the  month  of 
March  it  is  driven  from  the  Atlantic  coast  by 
the  violent  winds  from  the  north,  which  fort- 
nightly carry  icy  currents  of  air  from  Hudson's 
Bay  as  far  as  the  parallel  of  Vera  Cruz.  The 
average  temperature  of  the  Warm  Lands  is  79 
degrees  Fahrenheit;  in  the  sun,  it  exceeds  113 
degrees. 

Above  this  region,  on  the  first  plateau  of  the 
Cordilleras,  an  eternal  spring  prevails.  At  this 
height,  four  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  extreme  heat  and  extreme  cold  are  equally 
rare  ;  here  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  mild,  the  wind 
is  a  lukewarm  breath.  This  is  the  region  known 
as  the  Temperate   Lands  ;  and  the  thermometer 


CLIMATE    OF    MEXICO. 


19 


here  remains  between  68  and  70  degrees.  The 
sugar-cane  ripens  in  the  valleys  ;  and  the  vegeta- 
tion, more  varied  but  not  less  vigorous  than  on 
the  coast,  is  a  subject  of  admiration  the  year 
round.  Orizava,  Cordova,  Jalapa,  —  veritable 
Mexican  paradises,  —  are  situated  on  these  pic- 
turesque steps,  and  are  renowned  for  their  health- 
ful climate.  However,  the  elevation  of  these 
cities  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  clouds ;  hence, 
when  the  formidable  north  wind  blows  over  the 
Warm  Lands,  lifting  up  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
uprooting  the  trees,  sweeping  away  the  miasma, 
disturbing  the  usual  serenity  of  the  sky,  the 
Temperate  Lands  are  plunged  in  the  semi- 
darkness    of   a    moist,    moving    fosf. 

The  third  zone  —  the  Cold  Lands  —  comprises 
the  plateaus,  elevated  more  than  7,200  feet  above 
the  ocean-level,  and  on  which  the  mean  tem- 
perature is  63  degrees.  This  figure  shows  that 
the  terms  Cold  Lands,  Temperate  Lands,  and 
Warm  Lands  have  an  absolute  value  only  for  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country.  A  European  finds  a 
temperature  of  68  degrees  warm,  and  he  would 
not  call  one  of  63  cold.  Such,  however,  is  the 
temperature  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  Upon  the 
plateaus  which  overlook  that  city,  even  though 
they  are  situated  under  the  tropics,  the  climate 
is  severe  and  disagreeable ;  for  the  air,  being  very 
rare  there,  is  not  easily  heated. 

In  Europe,  as  Baron  von  Humboldt  justly 
remarked,  the  agricultural  products  of  a  country 


20  THE   AZTECS. 

almost  always  depend  on  its  latitude.  In  Mex- 
ico, it  is  the  greater  or  less  elevation  above  the 
sea-level  that  determines  the  climate  and  produc- 
tions of  a  district.  Thus,  at  the  20th  degree 
the  sugar-cane,  the  indigo-plant,  and  the  cocoa- 
tree  cease  to  stow  above  an  elevation  of  2,600 
feet;  and  wheat  begins  to  ripen  only  at  a  height 
of  4,550,  and  it  cannot  be  produced  above  an 
elevation  of  9,750  feet. 

The  chain  of  mountains  whose  summits  form 
the  vast  central  plateau  of  Mexico  is  the  same 
that  extends  through  South  America  under  the 
name  of  the  Andes.  However,  it  differs  greatly 
from  it  in  arrangement,  composition,  and  aspect. 
The  Mexican  Cordilleras  have  few  abrupt  breaks. 
The  principal  plateau  is  so  even  that  carriages 
can  move  on  it  without  great  difficulty,  over  a 
road  almost  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in 
length,  on  which  little  engineering  work  has 
been  necessary.  From  Mexico  to  Acapulco,  — 
that  is,  in  the  direction  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  — 
the  slope  is  almost  imperceptible.  Towards  the 
north,  in  the  direction  of  Chihuahua,  the  pla- 
teaus —  which  seem  to  be  the  beds  of  ancient 
lakes  —  form  a  series  of  steps  scarcely  separated 
from  one  another  by  hills.  These  plateaus,  a 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  —  whose 
declivity  is  so  gentle  that  it  is  almost  impercep- 
tible to  the  traveller  who  crosses  them,  —  are 
among  the  most  interesting  geological  curiosities 
of  New  Spain. 


THE    CORDILLERAS.  2  1 

But  on  the  other  hand,  from  Mexico  to  Vera 
Cruz,  —  whether  one  takes  the  way  of  Jalapa, 
of  Orizava,  or  the  intermediate  railway  route, — 
the  declivities  are  rapid  and  abrupt.  This  route 
affords  the  finest  view  of  the  imposing  beauty 
of  the  Cordilleras,  whose  forest-covered  summits 
are  over-towered  by  a  group  of  extinct,  or  at  least 
slumbering  volcanos.  The  largest  of  these  is 
Popocatepetl  ("smoking  mountain"),  17,687  feet 
high.  Next  comes  Citlatepetl  ("  mountain  of  the 
star "),  better  known  as  the  Peak  of  Orizava, 
17,664  feet  in  height;  then  Iztacihuatl  ("white 
woman"),  15,714  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea; 
and  finally,  Nauhcampatapetl  ("  square  rock  "),  of 
an  elevation  of  13,4 15  feet,  the  only  one  which 
is  not  covered  with  snow  the  year  round,  and 
which,  because  of  its  peculiar  form,  the  Spaniards 
have  named  "  Perote's  Chest." 

Towards  Guanajuato  the  Cordilleras  take  the 
name  of  Sierra  Madre,  and  are  divided  into  three 
great  branches.  In  this  region  the  richest  silver 
mines  known  are  found,  among  others  the  famous 
Valenciana,  which  has  yielded  its  fortunate  owner 
an  income  of  as  high  as  $6,000,000  a  year. 

Despite  its  ancient  name  of  Anahuac,  the 
central  plateau  of  Mexico  is  wanting  in  water- 
courses ;  hence  it  is  in  part  devoid  of  vegetation. 
Many  causes  concur  to  produce  this  result.  In 
the  first  place  the  height  of  the  Cordilleras 
sensibly  increases  the  evaporation  that  takrs 
place    on    the    plateaus,  and  on   the    other  hand 


2  2  THE   AZTECS. 

the  country  is  not  sufficiently  high  for  many  of 
its  peaks  to  reach  the  zone  of  perpetual  snow. 
In  addition  to  this,  springs  are  necessarily  rare 
in  mountains  composed  of  porous  amygdoloids 
and  porphyry.  The  rain-water,  instead  of  gather- 
ing in  subterranean  basins,  is  lost  in  clefts  of 
volcanic  origin,  and  reappears  only  at  the  foot 
of  the  Cordilleras.  Numerous  small  streams, 
indeed,  furrow  its  sides ;  but  owing  to  the  con- 
figuration of  the  country  they  are  not  very  long, 
and  they  flow  rapidly  to  the  sea,  in  which  they 
are  lost. 

In  the  centre  of  Mexico  are  no  rivers.  The 
largest  of  those  that  water  its  territory,  the  Rio 
Bravo  del  Norte,  has  separated  it  from  the  United 
States  since  the  Mexican  war,  and  only  half 
belongs  to  it.  The  Rio  Bravo,  after  a  course 
of  1,240  miles,  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Above  it  the  Rio  Colorado  ("  red  river ")  flows 
into  the  Gulf  of  California.  But  this  river, 
whose  length  is  800  miles,  has  belonged  to  the 
American   Republic  since   1849. 

Towards  the  south  flows  the  Papaloapam, 
which  the  Spaniards  called  the  Rio  d'Alvarado, 
in  memory  of  a  lieutenant  of  Cortez  who  first 
ascended  its  course.  The  Papaloapam  has  its 
source  in  the  mountains  of  Miztec,  and  after 
uniting  with  the  Rio  Blanco  in  the  immense  Bay 
of  Alvarado,  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  Goazocoalco,  which  Cortez,  anticipating 
M.  de  Lesseps,  thought  of   connecting  with  the 


THE    GREAT    LAKES.  23 

Rio  Paso,  with  the  Chimalpa  or  with  the  Te- 
huantepec,  to  establish  a  communication  between 
the  two  great  oceans,  descends  from  the  Mixes 
Mountains  and  empties  below  the  town  of  Min- 
atitlan.  Finally,  the  Chiapan,  or  Rio  de  Tabasco, 
ends  near  the  port  to  which  it  has  given  its 
name,  and  mingles  its  waters  with  those  of  the 
Usumacinta. 

The  great  lakes,  which  in  the  absence  of 
navigable  streams  served  to  develop  the  home 
trade  of  the  first  inhabitants  of  Anahuac,  are 
now  drying  up.  Among  the  most  important, 
we  must  mention  that  of  Tezcoco,  in  the  centre 
of  which  the  city  of  Mexico  was  founded,  and 
which  communicates  with  the  Lake  of  Chalco 
by  a  long  natural  canal.  In  the  north,  Lake 
Chapala  covers  an  area  of  1,350  square  miles; 
this  lake  seems  never  to  have  belonged  to  the 
Aztecs.  We  may  also  mention  the  Lake  of 
Catemaco,.  in  the  Sierra  de  San  Andres  Tuxtla, 
the  most  picturesque  perhaps  of  the  known 
lakes. 

Springs,  torrents,  streams,  small  rivers,  are 
rare  in  the  plains,  as  well  as  in  the  Cordilleras, 
and  their  waters  frequently  contain  copper,  soda, 
lime,  and  carbonic  acid.  Warm  waters  abound, 
at  times  carrying  petroleum  oils  with  them.  As 
a  matter  of  curiosity  the  Rio  de  las  Vueltas 
("the  winding  river")  deserves  mention;  in  the 
course  of  less  than  thirty  miles  it  crosses  the  road 
from  Tehuacan  to  Oajaca  about  sixty  times. 


24 


THE    AZTECS. 


Without  its  periodic  rains,  which,  especially 
in  the  Warm  Lands,  serve  to  determine  the 
seasons,  Mexico  would  in  part  be  sterile.  But 
storms,  frequent  on  the  coast  and  on  the  plateaus, 
and  of  daily  occurrence  in  the  Temperate  Lands, 
refresh  the  atmosphere  and  swell  the  torrents 
and  rivers,  which,  having  no  embankments  what- 
ever, overflow  and  cover  the  surrounding  country, 
to  a  distance  of  more  than  sixty  miles,  with  yel- 
lowish waters.  The  storms  of  Mexico,  as  well 
known  as  its  annual  earthquakes,  begin  in  June 
and  end  in  October.  The  spectacle  is  at  once 
terrible,  grand,  and  impressive.  The  heavens 
are  clear,  the  atmosphere  stifling,  an  enervating 
calm  lulls  all  animated  nature  to  sleep,  —  a  calm 
which  it  seems  nothing  could  disturb.  Suddenly 
the  top  of  a  steel-gray  cloud  rises  above  the 
horizon,  on  the  Atlantic  side,  and  grows  percepti- 
bly larger  and  larger.  Intermittent  gusts  of  wind 
sweep  the  earth,  raise  columns  of  dust,  scatter 
it  in  the  upper  region  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
veil  the  brilliancy  of  the  sun.  The  violence  of 
the  blast  increases,  the  leaves  are  twisted  about, 
the  branches  of  the  trees  bend  and  crash.  The 
frightened  birds,  uttering  plaintive  cries,  fly  with 
quickly  beating  wings  in  all  directions,  while  the 
quadrupeds  bray,  roar,  neigh,  bend  their  heads, 
scrape  the  ground  with  their  feet,  and  man  grows 
anxious.  The  sky  becomes  black,  it  is  dusk 
before  its  time;  then  all  noises,  except  those 
caused    by  the   wind,  are    suddenly   hushed.     A 


RAIN-STORMS. 


25 


lightning  flash  bursts  forth  from  the  dark  cloud, 
that  is  almost  within  reach  of  the  hand,  with 
a  noise  like  that  made  by  the  rending  of  an 
immense  sail ;  the  rain  immediately  pours  down 
in  torrents.  The  flashes  of  lightning  now  follow 
without  interruption,  blinding  the  eyes  with  their 
white  flames,  and  the  earth  trembles  under  the 
repeated  claps  of  thunder,  whose  rumbling  the 
mountain  echo  reverberates  and  multiplies.  For 
an  hour  Nature,  battling  with  the  elements,  seems 
destined  to  annihilation  in  a  furious  and  blind 
struggle  which  threatens  a  flood.  Streams  of 
yellow,  red,  or  black  water,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  soil  through  which  it  flows,  descend 
from  the  high  peaks  with  a  roaring  sound,  their 
courses  cross,  they  unite  with  one  another  and 
are  transformed  into  torrents.  Vegetation  is 
swept  away,  trees  uprooted,  and  rocks,  rolled 
along  as  if  of  no  weight,  bound  with  a  crash  on 
the  slopes  and  are  precipitated  to  the  bottom 
of  valleys  and  into  the  depths  of  un fathomed 
gorges.  From  these  abysses,  which  the  water 
seems  anxious  to  fill  up,  and  which  are  inhabited 
by  beings  that  love  the  darkness,  ascend  clamors, 
wild  cries,  and  hisses.  During  these  sinister  mo- 
ments the  earth,  overpowered  by  the  angry 
heavens,  seems  to  writhe  and  tremble  in  terrible 
agony  under  the  increasing  blows  dealt  it  by  the 
furious  elements. 

At  last  the  immense  cloud  loses  its  inky  color 
and   assumes  grayish  tints.     The  wind  dies  out, 


26  THE    AZTECS. 

the  noises  cease,  day  reappears,  then  the  sun. 
Suddenly  the  birds  sing,  the  insects  buzz,  and 
the  vultures,  darting  up  into  the  laved  atmos- 
phere, describe  their  mysterious  circles.  We 
breathe ;  a  healthy  odor  rises  from  the  soil,  and 
the  fragrant  flowers  exhale  sweet  perfumes.  It 
seems  like  a  dream ;  but  the  morrow  will  bring 
the  same  phenomena,  the  same  struggles,  the 
same  terrors,  and  the  same  feeling  of  inanity. 

To  resume.     The    European    who  follows  the 
road   traced  out  by  the   Spaniards   to  reach   the 
capital   of  Mexico  soon   gets   a   general   idea    of 
the  different  climates  of  the  beautiful  country  he 
is  about  to  visit.     Thirty  leagues  out  to  sea,  when 
crossing  the  transparent  waves  of  the  Gulf  Stream, 
his  eyes  have  discovered  the  sharp,  snow-covered 
cone  of  the  Peak  of  Orizava,  and  the  giant,  whose 
summit  grazes  the  horizon,  seems  to  grow  larger 
as  the   vessel   approaches   the   shore.     He   lands 
and  is  deceived.     He  expected  to  meet  with  palm- 
trees,    cocoanut-trees,    lemon-trees,    the    boasted 
flora  of  the  tropics,  and  instead  he  finds  himself 
face  to  face  with  a  sandy  coast  on  which  the  cac 
tus  grows,  and  on  which  serpents  crawl  or  igua- 
nas run.     In  the  distance,  towards  the  west,  the 
grand   Cordilleras   stand   out   darkly   against   the 
vermilion    sky,    and    look   like   a   mass   of   storm- 
clouds.     Vultures  in  search  of  unclean  prey  hover 
in  the  atmosphere  at  an  immense  height,  while 
brown    pelicans    skim    over    the     ground,    above 
which  bluish  vapors  are  floating.      He  feels  sad, 


FLORA    AND    FAUNA 


2J 


disenchanted.  i  he  atmosphere  is  impregnated 
with  a  strange  musky  odor;  he  is  treading  the 
land  of  malarial  fevers  and  of  the  mysterious 
black  vomit.  The  sand  line  passed,  the  country 
gradually  changes.  He  crosses  a  region  of  under- 
brush, then  vast  plains,  in  which  horses  and 
horned  cattle,  brought  from  the  old  country  long 
ago,  graze  and  multiply  in  freedom.  Mimosa 
bushes,  alive  with  cardinal  birds  with  purple 
plumage,  chattering  parrots,  and  blue  sparrows, 
tell  him  that  he  is  not  far  from  a  forest.  At 
last  he  sees  palms  and  cocoanut-trees.  Aras 
please  the  eye  with  their  splendid  dress,  and 
offend  the  ear  with  their  discordant  voices.  He 
passes  by  a  marsh  or  river;  alligators,  tapirs,  bears, 
otters,  and  turtles  flee  before  him.  At  intervals, 
monkeys,  ant-eaters,  wild-cats  and  sloths  surprise 
him  by  their  forms,  their  movements,  and  by  their 
cries,  which  are  answered  by  the  doleful  howls  of 
prairie-wolves,  the  roaring  of  jaguars  or  pumas, 
these  maneless  lions.  Eagles  and  golden-crested 
king-vultures  hover  in  the  sky ;  lower  down  float 
humming-birds,  a  hundred  different  species  of  har- 
monious-voiced sparrows,  azure-colored  pigeons, 
pink  and  white  spoon-bills.  Trees  with  strange 
foliage  bear  unknown  fruit.  On  their  trunks,  the 
stem  of  the  vanilla  traces  its  zigzags,  laden  with 
emerald-covered  pods,  which  on  drying  become 
brown  and  odorous. 

Thus  far  the  traveller  has  met  with  only  mulat- 
toes,  the  descendants  of  negroes  formerly  brought 


28  THE    AZTECS. 

from  Africa  to  cultivate  the  burning  soil  he  walks 
upon.  All  at  once  a  bamboo  cabin,  surrounded 
by  sharp-leaved  yucas,  and  shaded  by  banana- 
trees,  appears  on  the  edge  of  a  stream.  A  man 
of  medium  height,  with  a  copper-colored  skin,  a 
flat  nose,  a  gentle  look,  coarse,  thick  hair,  and 
beardless  chin  stands  at  the  threshold.  Children 
of  both  sexes,  entirely  naked,  their  stomachs  dis- 
tended, run  and  hide  behind  a  woman  occupied 
in  grinding  maize  on  a  block  of  lava,  and  whose 
rather  gross  body  is  covered  only  by  a  petticoat 
scarcely  reaching  to  the  knees.  You  look  with 
surprise  at  these  Indians,  descendants  of  the 
powerful  race,  whom  Cortez  conquered,  and 
who,  though  humble  and  timid,  have,  for  the  last 
three  centuries,  obstinately  repelled  everything  of 
European  origin. 

But  the  traveller  is  approaching  the  Cordil- 
leras, and  that  gigantic  wall,  ten  thousand  feet  in 
height,  strikes  the  mind,  overwhelms  it,  disquiets 
it.  He  asks  himself  how  that  mighty  obstacle, 
whose  rounded  summits  are  covered  with  verdure 
can  be  passed.  He  begins  to  climb,  and  he  looks 
back.  The  country  he  has  just  crossed,  panting, 
bathed  in  sweat,  harassed  by  insects  greedy  for 
blood,  and  which  is  now  unrolled  at  his  feet,  is 
the  Warm  Land. 

Again  he  begins  to  ascend  slowly,  with  a  feel- 
ing of  terror,  skirting  dark  precipices,  at  the 
bottom  of  which  roll  noisy  torrents  that  awaken 
numerous  echoes.     He  frequently  stops  to   take 


THE    TEMPERATE    LAND.  29 

breath,  to  look  at  a  cascade,  gigantic  rocks,  or 
trees  the  trunk  of  any  one  of  which  several  men 
holding  each  other's  hands  would  scarcely  be  able 
to  surround.  Other  plants  surprise  the  observer 
by  the  strangeness  of  their  forms  ;  many-colored 
birds  fly  about  and  twitter  in  their  branches, 
which  are  adorned  with  clinging  vines.  Orchids 
display  their  singular  flowers  everywhere  ;  your 
feet  become  entangled  in  crawling  roots  of  sarsa- 
parilla  and  jalap ;  parrots  fly  by  you  chattering. 
Armadillos,  opossums,  martens,  porcupines,  flee  in 
fright ;  squirrels  spring  from  one  tree  to  another 
as  if  they  had  wings.  A  serpent  raises  his  head, 
darts  forth  his  forked  tongue,  casts  his  evil  eye 
upon  you,  and  then  disappears  in  the  grass,  in 
which  you  hear  the  noise  of  the  rattle-snake,  and 
where  no  one  dares  to  tread. 

The  traveller  crosses  gorges  and  torrents,  and 
ascends  without  intermission ;  the  vegetation 
changes  at  every  step.  Clouds  of  large  yellow, 
blue,  or  red  butterflies  are  met  with  all  along  the 
route,  which  is  crossed  by  toucans  with  enormous 
beaks,  and  small  black  snakes.  You  breathe 
easier;  the  air  is  more  moist.  On  all  sides  are 
orange-trees,  lemon-trees,  and  cocoanut-trees ; 
you  are  in  the   Temperate   Land. 

Suddenly,  after  a  last  summit,  an  immense 
plain  spreads  out  before  you.  The  soil  becomes 
white  and  dusty;  aloes  and  agaves,  which  can  live 
without  water,  abound.  The  traveller  is  eight 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  on  the 


3° 


THE    AZTECS. 


central  plateau,  and  the  air  is  so  rarefied  that 
the  least  physical  effort  deprives  one  of  breath. 
In  the  background  the  three  great  volcanos  lift 
their  snowy  peaks.  The  country  is  healthy,  its 
sky  is  of  an  azure  blue,  its  fields  are  fertile.  Red- 
pepper  plants  have  taken  the  place  of  the  cedar, 
the  cypress,  and  the  orange.  Unless  you  go  in  a 
northern  direction,  —  that  is,  towards  the  so-called 
interior  lands,  which  so  forcibly  recall  the  desolate 
plains  of  Castile,  —  you  go  through  a  veritable 
garden.  Towards  the  right  the  silhouette  of  the 
mountains  of  Guanajuato  is  outlined  on  the  sky, 
and  towards  the  left  that  of  the  Miztec  moun- 
tains. The  ancient  valley  of  Anahuac  crossed, 
the  traveller  leaves  the  Cold  Lands,  to  again  find, 
on  the  shore  of  the  Pacific,  the  climate,  the  vege- 
tation, and  the  fauna  of  the  Warm  Lands,  and  of 
the  Temperate  Lands. 


CHAPTER    II. 

First     Inhabitants    of     Mexico.  —  The    Giants.  —  The 
Tarascos.  —  The    Toltecs.  —  The     Otomites.  —  The 
Chichimecs.  —  The  Alcolhuas.  —  The   Tlaxcaltecs.  - 
Appearance  of  the  Nahuan  Tribes,  or  Nahuatlacs. 

AT  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the  shores  of 
Anahuac  by  Grijalva,  in  15 18,  the  beauti- 
ful country  of  whose  physiognomy  we  have  just 
given  a  general  outline  was  divided  into  four 
kingdoms,  three  aristocratic  republics,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  small  states.  Mexico  was  the  principal 
of  the  four  kingdoms ;  then  came  Colhuacan, 
Tlacopan,  and  Michoacan,  the  three  together 
of  less  extent  than  the  powerful  neighbor  on 
whom  they  depended.  The  three  republics  were 
Tlaxcala,  —  whose  citizens,  for  centuries  enemies 
of  the  Aztecs,  made  common  cause  with  Cortez, 
—  Cholula,  and  Huexotzinco.  The  peninsula  of 
Yucatan,  of  which  we  shall  have  something  to 
say,  was  then  an  independent  monarchy. 

The  history  of  the  first  peoples  established  in 
Anahuac  is  so  obscure,  so  full  of  fables  hard  to 
co-ordinate,  that  the  hope  of  ever  knowing  it 
with  certainty  must  be  abandoned.  In  the  New 
World,  as  well  as  in  the  Old,  men  have  lost  the 
sources  of  their  origin,  or  have  veiled  them  with 


32 


THE    AZTECS. 


the  marvellous,  so  easily  born  of  the  imagination. 
Thus,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  in  America, 
all  the  Indian  races  with  whom  they  came  in  con- 
tact claimed  that  they  were  the  descendants  of  a 
race  of  giants.  In  support  of  this  assertion  they 
exhibited  enormous  bones  found  embedded  in  the 
earth.  The  conquerors  themselves,  digging  the 
ground  to  open  roads  or  to  build  churches,  soon 
brought  to  light  some  of  these  fossil  remains, 
which  at  first  sight  appeared  to  them  to  have 
belonged  to  human  beings.  The  missionaries, 
mindful  of  the  words  of  Genesis,  Gigantes  erant 
super  terrain  in  diebus  tills,  accepted  with  a  blind 
faith  the  traditions  that  confirmed  the  truth  of 
the  Bible.  The  belief  that  Mexico  was  primi- 
tively peopled  by  giants  was  so  strongly  im- 
pressed on  the  mind  of  the  people  that  on  my 
arrival  in  the  country,  in  May,  1845,  teeth  of  a 
mastodon  recently  exhumed  from  the  bed  of  the 
Tuspango  River  in  the  province  of  Vera  Cruz, 
were  shown  to  me  as  an  irrefutable  proof  of  the 
fact.  It  is  not  strange,  however,  that  the  Indians 
should  be  mistaken  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the 
fossil  remains  of  animals  whose  existence  was 
unknown  to  them.  Did  not  the  Old  World  be- 
lieve in  Cyclops  and  Titans  before  paleontology 
became  a  science  ? 

Was  man  in  Mexico  the  contemporary  of  great 
proboscidians,  of  whom  he  at  first  regarded 
himself  as  the  descendant?  "All  that  can  be 
affirmed,"   writes    Dr.    Hamy,  in    his   great    work 


THE    MAYAS.  33 

entitled  "  Zoblogie  du  Mexique  ",  "  is  that  a  man 
whose  anthropologic  characteristics  are  still  un- 
determined lived  before  the  final  geologic  events 
which  save  America  its  actual  formation,  and 
that,  in  Mexico  in  particular,  man  was  the  con- 
temporary of  the  gigantic  animals  whose  de- 
struction, according  to  the  native  writings,  was 
completed  by  the  Olmecs." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  fact,  that,  in  the 
Aztec  legends,  the  Olmecs  —  and  this  is  all  we 
know  about  them  —  are  represented  as  having 
destroyed  the  giants  who  had  occupied  a  part 
of  Anahuac  since  the  creation  of  the  world. 

But  let  us  leave  the  darkness  and  the  fables 
whose  allegories,  grown  incomprehensible,  con- 
ceal from  the  man  of  modern  times,  ever  eager 
for  accuracy,  his  true  origin.  The  most  ancient 
people  of  whom  traces  are  found  in  any  part  of 
modern  Mexico,  are  the  Mayas  who  inhabited 
Yucatan. 

The  Mayas,  whom  many  writers  have  endeav- 
ored to  connect  with  the  Toltecs,  are  completely 
separated  from  them  by  their  language.  Never- 
theless, as  the  influence  of  their  civilization  made 
itself  felt,  both  politically  and  religiously,  upon 
the  continent  whose  great  peninsula  they  occu- 
pied, they  ought  not  to  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
According  to  their  traditions  the  country  in 
which  they  had  their  origin  was  called  Tulapam, 
and  it  was  about  the  year  793  before  the  Chris- 
tian era  that  they  appeared  in   Yucatan.      They 

3 


34 


THE    AZTECS. 


must  have  come  by  sea,  for  the  resemblance  of 
their  language  to  that  spoken  by  the  aborigines 
of  Cuba,  Hayti,  and  Jamaica  reveals  an  un- 
doubted relationship  between  these  different  peo- 
ples. This  emigration,  moreover,  proves  that 
at  this  remote  epoch,  the  people  of  the  Antilles 
were  already  far  advanced  in  civilization,  since 
they  could  cross  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico in  numbers. 


Fig.  i. —  Part  of  a  ruin  in  Ux.mai.. 


The  emigrants  to  Yucatan,  led  by  a  chief 
named  Iztamna,  at  once  priest,  sovereign,  phy- 
sician, and  prophet,  founded  the  city  of  Iztamal 
("dew  of  heaven").  Among  the  successors  of 
Iztamna  we  find  the  name  of  Votan,  civilizer 
of  the  province  of  Chiapas.     Iztamna  had  come 


MAYA    MONUMENTS. 


35 


from  the  Atlantic,  and  everything  favors  the  sup- 
position that  Votan,  likewise  sovereign,  priest, 
and  legislator,  came  from  the  shores  of  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean.  He  played  the  part  of  a  Buddha 
in  the  centre  of  America. 

Although  the  magnificent  ruins,  which  to-day 
cover  the  country  formerly  occupied  by  the  Mayas, 
present  the  same  architectural  character,  and  al- 
though they  have  the  same  hieroglyphic  inscrip- 


FlG. 


Pyramid  of  Mayatan. 


tions,  they  certainly  do  not  belong  to  the  same 
epoch,  nor  are  they  the  work  of  the  same  genera- 
tion. The  ruins  of  Iztamal,  with  their  pyramids, 
those  of  Uxmal,  which  Orozco  represents  as  a 
product  of  the  golden  age  of  Maya  art,  and  of 
whose  decoration  we  give  a  specimen  (fig.  i), 
and  finally  the  monuments  of  the  decadence  of 
Mayapan,  mark  three  very  distinct  periods  (fig.  2). 


36  THE    AZTECS. 

In  this  division  the  group  of  the  Mayas  of  Chia- 
pas is  represented  by  the  ruins  of  Palenque,  of 
Ococingo,  of  Chichen-Itza,  and  of  Lorillard-City, 
—  that  dead  town  of  the  country  of  the  Lacan- 
dons,  recently  discovered  by  M.  Desire  Charnay. 

I  have  frequently  studied  the  ruins  just  men- 
tioned, with  the  hope  of  grasping  their  distinctive 
character,  or  in  default  of  that,  of  discovering  a 
salient  feature  which  might  enable  nie  to  classify 
them  with  certainty.  Vain  endeavor;  no  such 
character  and  no  such  feature  exists.  The  com- 
petent men  whom  I  questioned,  far  from  being 
able  to  help  me,  confessed  that  they  shared  my 
embarrassment.  Hence  it  is  only  by  the  nature 
of  certain  ornaments,  and  by  the  quality  of  the 
materials  employed,  and  not  by  great  lines  of 
demarcation,  that  the  different  ages  of  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  nations  who  at  first  peopled  the 
provinces  of  Chiapas  can  be  distinguished.  Nev- 
ertheless, it  seems  beyond  all  doubt  that  these 
monuments  are  the  work  of  one  race,  executed 
in  different  ages,  and  obeying  identical  traditions 
of  art  and  civilization. 

How  many  times,  pursuing  a  bird  or  an  insect 
through  the  forests  that  now  cover  the  fields 
which  the  Mayas  once  tilled,  has  chance  brought 
me  unexpectedly  face  to  face  with  one  of  the 
buildings  erected  by  that  mysterious  people  ! 
How  many  melancholy  hours  have  I  passed  wan- 
dering around  these  ruins,  contemplating  these 
crumbling  walls,  these  magnificent  works  of  men, 


MAYA    MONUMENTS.  -j 

whose  name  and  history  are  scarcely  known  to  the 
modern  world  !  And  yet  these  chiselled  stones, 
covered  with  odd,  fantastic  designs,  fanciful  in 
appearance,  on  which  plants  and  flowers  surround 
warriors  posing  proudly  or  kneeling  in  the  hum- 
ble attitude  of  vanquished  men,  tell  the  facts  of 
centuries  that  have  passed.  These  bas-reliefs 
are  documents,  these  palaces  books  of  granite ! 
Vanity !  the  man  who  ordered  that  these  walls 
should  be  built,  that  his  name  and  his  mighty 
deeds  should  be  inscribed  on  every  stone,  must 
have  believed  himself  immortal.  And  lo !  to-day 
wandering  travellers,  belonging  to  a  race  of  men 
whose  existence  he  did  not  even  dream  of,  puz- 
zled, contemplate  his  gigantic  work,  which  spoke 
long  years  ago,  but  which  is  now  dumb. 

Dumb  ?  No  !  The  venerable  trees,  which 
hide  in  their  shade  these  palaces  that  were 
once  bathed  by  the  sun,  conceal  nests  in  their 
branches.  There  melodious  sparrows  sing,  morn- 
ing and  evening,  the  hymn  which  was  familiar  to 
their  ancestors  in  the  time  of  Iztamna.  At  night 
a  wildcat  or  a  jaguar  comes  forth  from  these 
ruins  and  growls;  while  owls,  that  think  these 
palaces  built  for  them,  hover,  with  noiseless  wing, 
over  the  fire  lighted  by  the  traveller.  The  flick- 
ering flame  seems  to  give  life  to  the  warriors 
drawn  up  in  battle  array,  and  to  revive  for  an 
instant  those  heroes  who,  having  long  listened  to 
the  ceaseless  noises  of  a  great  city,  arc  at  last 
enveloped  in  oblivion.    Now,  their  eyes  ever  open, 


38  THE    AZTECS. 

resting  on  a  sceptre  or  brandishing  a  sword,  they 
listen  to  the  silence  of  the  solitude  which  sur- 
rounds them,  and  after  twenty  centuries,  again 
see  pass  at  their  feet  the  puny  being  of  whom 
they  are  at  once  the  work  and  the  image. 

Leaving  the  Mayas,  we  must  mention  among 
the  first  colonizers  of  Anahuac  the  inhabitants  of 
the  kingdom  of  Michoacan,  the  Tarascos.  This 
people  belonged  only  by  their  civilization  to  the 
famous  tribes  of  the  Nahuas,  of  whom  we  shall 
soon  speak,  and  their  language  had  no  relation- 
ship with  that  of  their  neighbors,  the  Colhuas 
and  the  Aztecs.  The  Toltec  nation  is  the  first 
in  regard  to  which,  the  traditions  of  the  people 
who  occupied  Anahuac  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards,  give  us  any  positive  informa- 
tion. Exiled,  according  to  their  own  account, 
from  their  native  country,  the  kingdom  of  Tollan, 
which  seems  to  have  been  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake 
Tulare,  the  Toltecs  directed  their  course  towards 
the  south.  Caprice  or  necessity  compelled  them 
to  stop  for  some  time  at  many  points  which  still 
preserve  traces  of  their  passage ;  for  wherever 
they  sojourned  they  erected  buildings.  They 
took  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  years  to  reach 
the  place  they  named  Tollantzinco,  where  they 
thought  of  establishing  themselves  definitively. 
About  twenty  years  later  they  resumed  their 
journey  and  stopped  near  a  river  on  the  bank 
of  which,  about  the  year  667  of  our  era,  they 
founded  a  city  which  they  called  Tollan  or  Tula, 


THE    TOLTECS.  39 

in  memory  of  their  native  country.  Tollan,  the 
most  ancient  city  of  Anahuac,  was  about  twenty- 
five  miles  from  Mexico,  and  it  is  often  mentioned 
in  the  Aztec  annals. 

The  Toltecs,  from  this  period,  lived  under  a 
monarchial  form  of  government.  Far  advanced 
in  civilization,  they  busied  themselves  not  only 
with  agriculture  and  commerce,  but  also  with 
science,  art,  and  manufactures,  and  their  name, 
among  the  people  who  succeeded  them,  became 
the  synonyme  for  "  skilled  workman."  To  them 
Anahuac  owes  the  cultivation  of  Indian  corn, 
discovered  by  a  great  man,  deified  after  his  death 
or  mysterious  disappearance,  Ouetzacoatl.  Cot- 
ton, allspice,  sage,  and  other  useful  plants  are 
also  supposed  to  have  been  discovered  by  the 
Toltecs.  But  their  chief  title  to  glory,  even  in 
the  eyes  of  Europeans,  has  for  a  long  time,  been 
their  calendar. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  calendar  is  the  work 
of  the  Mayas,  from  whom  Ouetzacoatl  borrowed 
it  at  the  time  of  his  excursion  into  Yucatan.  It 
has  given  rise  to  long  and  learned  discussions,  in 
which  we  shall  take  care  not  to  lose  ourselves. 
In  the  first  place,  being  a  lunar  calendar,  it  pre- 
sents the  principles  of  both  the  Egyptian  and  the 
Asiatic  calendars.  Must  we  conclude  from  this, 
as  many  historians  have  done,  that  Yucatan  and 
the  province  of  Chiapas  were  at  some  remote 
period  in  accidental  contact  with  the  peoples  of 
Asia    and    of    Europe?     The    fact    is    possible, 


40 


THE   AZTECS. 


although  very  improbable.  Would  it  not  be 
strange,  indeed,  that  this  contact  should  have  no 
palpable  result  but  that  of  the  exact  knowledge  of 
the  divisions  of  time  ?  Omitting  for  the  time 
being  all  discussion,  let  us  content  ourselves 
with  recalling  that  the  Maya  calendar,  which  all 
the  peoples  of  Anahuac  adopted,  modifying  the 
names  of  the  months  and  days  according  to  their 
language,  was  improved  by  the  Toltecs  and  per- 
fected by  the  Aztecs.  It  constituted  the  age  or 
cycle  of  fifty-two  years,  and  divided  the  year, 
which  began  on  the  second  day  of  February,  into 
eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each.  To  these 
months,  to  complete  the  number  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days,  five  days,  set  aside  for  rest, 
were  added. 

Settled  in  a  temperate  climate,  and  on  a  fertile 
soil,  the  Toltec  people  rapidly  prospered,  founded 
numerous  cities,  and  civilized  some  of  the  bar- 
barous tribes  that  surrounded  them.  During  the 
reign  of  their  eighth  king,  Topiltzin,  several  years 
of  drought  and  an  invasion  of  locusts  destroyed 
their  crops.  To  the  famine  which  resulted  from 
these  calamities,  a  war  with  the  Xalixenses  was 
soon  added.  Topiltzin,  conquered,  took  refuge 
in  a  cave,  and  was  supposed  to  be  dead.  Ruined 
and  decimated,  part  of  his  subjects  emigrated. 
Some  went  to  Yucatan,  others  to  Guatemala, 
where  their  descendants  still  speak  their  lan- 
guage. The  monuments  attributed  to  these  peo- 
ple—  but  attributed    to  them    falsely --arc    the 


THE    CHICHIMECS.  4 1 

famous  sanctuaries  of  Teotihuacan,  of  Cholula, 
and  of  the  strong  city  of  Cuauhnahuac. 

The  departure  of  the  Toltecs  left  Anahuac 
almost  deserted  for  many  years.  However,  we 
must  mention  as  then  occupying  some  of  its  dis- 
tricts, the  Olmecs  and  the  Xicalancs,  against 
whom  they  had  had  to  struggle  on  their  arrival, 
and  who  are  thought  to  have  been  but  one  and 
the  same  nation.  At  all  events,  they  had  had  for 
neighbors  the  Otomites,1  who  gave  up  barbarism 
only  about  the  fifteenth  century,  under  the  im- 
pulse of  the  Alcolhuas.  The  Otomites  inhabited 
caverns  and  lived  by  the  chase.  They  were  rude 
men,  whom  the  Aztecs  succeeded  in  conquering 
and  controlling;.  After  the  death  of  Moteuc- 
zoma  II.  the  Otomites  recovered  their  indepen- 
dence, and  the  Spaniards  had  to  struggle  with 
them  for  more  than  a  century  before  subduing 
them. 

The  Chichimecs  ("  blood  suckers"),  according 
to  the  etymology  of  Torquemada,  but  who  desig- 
nated themselves  the  eagles,  succeeded  the  Tol- 
tecs, who  belonged  to  the  same  race.  This 
people  also  came  from  the  regions  of  the  North, 
which  in  America  as  in  Europe  seem  to  have 
been  nurseries  of  men.  The  Chichimecs,  less 
civilized  than  their  predecessors,  were  like  them 
governed  by  kings.  They  were  ignorant  of  agri- 
culture ;     thev    lived    on    fruits,    roots,    and     the 

1  Prescott  gives  this  name  as  Otomies,  Bancroft  as  Ottomies, 
and  other  authorities  spell  it  Otomis.       Tk. 


42 


THE    AZTECS. 


products  of  the  chase,  and  clothed  themselves 
in  skins  simply  dried. 

We  already  possess  more  certain  information 
regarding  the  Chichimecs  than  concerning  the 
Toltecs.  According  to  their  traditions  the  king 
of  Amaquemecan  had  two  sons,  Achcautzin  and 
Xolotl,  to  whom  he  grave  the  government  °f  his 
empire.  Xolotl,  wishing  to  reign  alone,  went 
towards  the  south,  taking  with  him  those  of  his 
subjects  who  consented  to  cast  their  fortunes 
with  his.  The  emigrants  followed  in  the  track  of 
the  Toltecs  and  reached  the  ruins  of  Tollan  ;  con- 
tinuing their  journey  they  drew  near  the  lake  of 
Tezcoco.  There,  shooting  an  arrow  towards  the 
four  cardinal  points,  they  thus  took  possession  of 
the  beautiful  valley  of  Anahuac,  and  founded  the 
city  of  Tenayuca. 

Around  Chapultepec  ("mount  of  locusts"), — 
a  place  which  became  celebrated  for  the  castle 
which  the  Spanish  viceroys  afterwards  built 
there,  and  under  the  gigantic  cypresses  of  which 
the  unfortunate  Maximilian  loved  to  rest, — 
the  Chichimecs  found  some  descendants  of  the 
Toltecs  to  whom  they  allied  themselves.  Nopal- 
itzin,  son  of  Xolotl,  even  married  a  grand-daugh- 
ter of  the  ancient  kings  of  that  nation.  This 
alliance  was  of  advantage  for  the  emigrants,  who 
then  learned  to  cultivate  the  soil,  to  spin  cotton 
and  the  fibre  of  the  agave,  and  to  work  the  metals. 

Shortly  after  their  settlement  the  Chichimecs 
saw  new  tribes  of  their  nation,  among  others  the 


THE    ALCOLHUAS. 


43 


Alcolhuas,  appear.  The  new-comers,  however, 
more  civilized  than  those  who  had  preceded 
them,  were  well  received,  and  lands  were  granted 
them.  The  Alcolhuas  now  seconded  the  Toltecs 
in  their  efforts  to  soften  the  customs  of  the  Chi- 
chimecs,  and  they  succeeded  so  well  that,  a  cen- 
tury after  their  arrival,  they  were  morally  masters 
of  the  country.  Every  one  then  boasted  of  being 
an  Alcolhua,  and  the  name  of  Chichimec  was 
even  now  applied  only  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
frontiers  who  rebelled  against  civilization. 

The  details  of  this  rapid  and  singular  trans- 
formation are  not  known  ;  but  everything  goes 
to  show  that  it  was  accomplished  peaceably. 
New  reinforcements  came  continually  to  the 
Alcolhuas,  and  they  were  always  welcome.  All 
these  emigrants  belonged  to  the  great  family 
of  the  Nahuatlacs  ("people  who  speak  clearly"), 
and  they  submitted  or  allied  themselves  without 
difficulty  to  the  Alcolhuas,  who  had  the  same 
origin  as  themselves.  First  came  the  Xochimil- 
cos  ("  sowers  of  flowers")  who  settled  on  the  borders 
of  the  lake  to  which  they  gave  their  name.  The 
Chalcas  ("  men  of  mouth  ")  followed  close  upon 
them,  preceding  the  Tepanecs  ("  passers  of 
bridges  ")  and  the  Colhuas  ("  men  of  the  curved 
mountain").  The  Tlahuicos  ("men  turned 
towards  the  earth"),  finding  the  valley  peopled, 
directed  their  course  towards  the  western  moun- 
tains, crossed  them,  and  descended  into  the  valley 
of  Ouauhanahuac. 


44  THE    AZTECS. 

A  little  later  the  Tlaxcaltecs  ("  bread  eaters  ") 
appeared.  They  spoke  the  language  of  the 
Alcolhuas,  from  whom  they  were  distinguished 
only  by  their  warlike  disposition.  They  wan- 
dered for  a  long  time  in  the  valley,  unable  to 
settle  there,  for  the  peoples  united  to  drive  out 
these  quarrelsome  neighbors.  At  last,  protected 
by  a  Chichimec  king,  the  Tlaxcaltecs  overcame 
those  who  wished  them  ill.  They  founded  at 
the  foot  of  Mount  Matlacuye,  in  the  sierra  now 
called  de  la  Malinche,  Tlaxcala,  the  implacable 
rival  of  Mexico. 

Brave,  intelligent,  and  industrious,  the  Tlaxcal- 
tecs obeyed  one  king  for  a  long  time.  When 
their  number  increased  they  divided  the  country 
which  they  occupied  into  four  sections,  each 
provided  with  a  chief,  who  had  the  members  of 
the  nobility  as  his  advisers.  The  four  chiefs 
and  their  senates  decided  in  common  not  only 
all  questions  of  peace  or  war,  but  everything 
that  pertained  to  the  army  and  its  command. 
The  aristocratic  republic  of  Tlaxcala,  from  hatred 
of  the  Aztecs,  with  whom  they  were  then  at  war, 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Spaniards  the 
moment  they  appeared,  and  furnished  Cortez  with 
the  soldiers  he  needed  to  conquer  Moteuczoma  II. 
The  Tlaxcaltecs  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  fall  of  their  rivals,  but  they  soon  shared 
their  servitude ;  for  Cortez,  victorious,  forgot  the 
services  his  allies  had  rendered  him. 

We    have    rapidly    enumerated    the    different 


SMALLER    TRIBES. 


45 


nations  which,  from  the  earlier  ages  up  to  the 
year  1160  of  our  era,  occupied  the  country  of 
Anahuac,  leaving  some  trace  in  its  history.  Sev- 
eral other  peoples,  whom  we  have  omitted  to 
mention,  are  scarcely  known  except  by  their 
quarrels  with  their  more  powerful  or  more  civi- 
lized neighbors.  In  the  chronologic  order  we 
would  have  to  place  first  the  ancient  Otomites, 
or  Ontocas,  from  whom  sprung  the  Mazahuas 
and  the  Jonaces  or  Meques.  Afterwards  came 
the  Mayas  and  their  tribes,  —  Miztecs  and  Zapo- 
tecs,  who  found  the  Chuchones  on  the  land 
on  which  they  established  themselves.  Of  the 
sub-tribes,  Cuitlacs,  Chatinos,  Papatucos,  Omuch- 
cos,  Mazatecs,  Sol  tecs,  and  Chinantecs,  scattered 
among  peoples  of  different  origins,  scarcely  any- 
thing is  known  but  their  name. 

But  we  are  gradually  reaching  the  period  in 
which  the  Aztecs  appeared,  and  whom  we  shall 
henceforth  follow  step  by  step. 


CHAPTER    III. 

The  Aztecs,  or  Mexicans.  —  Their  Fatherland.  —  Their 
Peregrinations.  —  Foundation  of  Tenochtitlan.  — 
Political  State  of  Anahuac  in  1357.  —  The  Calendar. 

NEARLY  twenty  years  ago,  an  American 
exhibited  under  the  name  of  Aztecs,  in 
Paris  and  London,  two  little  microcephalous  crea- 
tures, zambos  of  Central  America,  who  subse- 
quently became  one  of  the  curiosities  of  Barnum's 
Museum  in  New  York.  The  name  of  Aztec, 
previously  unknown  or  nearly  so  to  our  great 
public,  immediately  became  in  their  expressive 
language  a  synonyme  for  Liliputian.  Unfortu- 
nately, nothing  is  farther  from  the  truth  than 
such  a  belief,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  physical 
and  moral  picture  of  that  intelligent  race  which 
it  seems  indispensable  we  should  paint  before 
taking  up  their  history. 

The  Aztec,  as  he  was  formerly  called,  —  the 
Indian,  as  he  is  now  called  in  consequence  of 
the  mistake  of  Columbus,  who  believed  he  was 
approaching  the  Indies  when  he  discovered 
America, — is  of  medium  height,  thick-set,  and 
has  well  proportioned  limbs.  Dolichocephalous, 
he  has  a  narrow  forehead,  a  flat  nose,  black  eyes, 


PHYSICAL   CHARACTERISTICS. 


47 


a  large  mouth,  thick  purple  lips,  white,  short 
regular  teeth,  well  set  in  rose-colored  gums.  His 
hair  is  black,  thick,  and  coarse ;  his  beard  is 
scanty.  His  skin  is  of  a  dull  copper-color,  lighter 
on  the  palms  of  the  hands  and  on  the  soles  of 


FlG.  3.  —  Indian    Man    ani>    Woman   OF  THE   Village   OF   Amah. an 
(from  a  photograph  by  Dr.  Fuzier). 

the  feet.  The  men  of  this  race  are,  according 
to  our  aesthetic  ideas,  ugly  rather  than  handsome. 
The  women,  whose  features  are  more  delicate. 
are  often  pretty  at  the  time  of  puberty ;  but  their 
forms  soon  become  heavy.     The  two  sexes  have 


48  THE   AZTECS. 

one  common  characteristic,  —  the  smallness  of 
the  extremities.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that, 
unlike  the  Toltecs,  these  people  did  not  deform 
their  skull  intentionally  (fig.  3). 

The  senses  of  the  Aztec  are  very  acute,  — 
especially  that  of  sight,  which  he  preserves  in 
all  its  power  up  to  a  very  advanced  age.  He 
never  becomes  obese,  rarely  loses  his  teeth  or 
hair,  and  the  latter  turns  gray  only  in  excep- 
tional cases.  His  gesticulations  are  awkward, 
and  rather  slow.  His  fingers,  owing  doubtless 
to  the  agricultural  labor  in  which  he  is  engaged, 
are  wanting  in  dexterity.  Temperate  in  eating, 
the  Aztec  is  fond  of  fermented  liquors.  The 
severity  with  which  the  ancient  laws  of  his  coun- 
try punished  drunkenness  seems  to  show  that  he 
had  a  leaning  towards  this  vice. 

Like  other  men,  the  Aztecs  are  a  prey  to  the 
passions ;  they  are  able,  however,  to  control  them 
with  an  uncommon  force  of  will.  Anger,  love, 
and  jealousy  may  trouble  them,  but  these  pas- 
sions rarely  make  them  commit  the  extrava- 
gances so  common  among  Europeans. 

Grave  and  taciturn,  the  Aztec  is  wanting  in 
energy ;  and  his  impassibility  sometimes  borders 
on  indifference.  He  is  brave  and  patient,  and 
he  supports  physical  pain  with  a  stoicism  that 
has  often  been  admired.  His  wife,  laborious, 
tender,  and  devoted,  possesses  the  maternal  in- 
stinct in  a  high  state  of  development ;  intellec- 
tually, she  is  equal  if  not  superior  to  her  husband. 


MENTAL    RESURRECTION. 


49 


The  prejudice  of  the  Spaniards  has  done 
much  to  belittle  the  Aztecs,  whom  for  a  lone 
time  they  called  beings  without  reason.  It  is 
now  a  demonstrated  fact  that  these  pariahs  are 
capable  of  understanding  all  the  sciences,  and  of 
exercising  all  the  arts,  and  that  the  ignorance  in 
which  their  conquerors  have  systematically  kept 
them  has  been  the  sole  cause  for  their  apparent 
inferiority.  However,  these  conquered  people 
now  seem  to  be  awakenine  from  their  lono- 
apathy,  —  to  be  recovering  their  energy  and  the 
spirit  of  initiative  which  formerly  made  them  a 
great  nation.  By  degrees  they  are  beginning  to 
occupy  all  the  important  positions  of  their  coun- 
try,—  becoming  presidents,  generals,  ministers, 
magistrates,  engineers,  physicians,  even  painters 
and  sculptors.  Strange  phenomenon  !  they  are 
beginning  to  dominate  morally  the  Spanish 
society  that  so  long  repulsed  them,  and  did 
scarcely    anything    but    oppress    them. 

Whether  it  be  the  effect  of  prejudice,  or  that 
we  are  unaccustomed  to  the  sight,  the  Aztec  in  a 
European  costume  —  even  when  he  has  worn  it 
from  childhood  —  has  an  awkward  appearance. 
Our  hat  is  not  in  keeping  with  his  features,  and 
our  clothes  do  not  sit  well  on  his  form,  nor  are 
they  suited  to  his  actions.  At  the  same  time,  the 
scantiness  of  his  national  costume,  which  leaves 
him  half-naked,  and  which  the  masses  of  the 
Aztecs  are  unwilling  to  give  up,  is  inadmissible 
in    our   civilization.      It   is  to   be    regretted    that, 

4 


5<D  THE    AZTECS. 

like  the  Hindoo,  whose  name  has  been  improp- 
erly given  to  the  Aztec,  he  did  not  wear  long, 
flowing  garments. 

Seen  in  the  forests  of  his  own  country,  in  the 
environment  of  sombre  green,  —  with  which  the 
color  of  his  skin  harmonizes  so  well,  —  no  longer 
hampered  by  cravat,  waistcoat,  or  shoes,  the 
Aztec  presents  a  fine  appearance.  There  is 
nothing  more  charming  than  to  see  his  daugh- 
ters, before  their  forms  have  become  too  full, 
running,  indolent  and  graceful,  under  the  beau- 
tiful blue  sky  of  their  native  land.  The  uniform 
civilization  which  is  levelling  our  globe  at  the 
present  time  will  certainly  injure  all  the  colored 
races,  which,  however,  instinctively  resist  this  lev- 
elling:. The  Aztec  is  at  this  moment  reviving 
his  individuality.  This  is  an  undeniable  fact ; 
but  will  they  ever  rise  again  as  a  nation  ?  This 
is  a  great  problem,  which  the  future  alone  can 
solve ;  and  we  have  only  to  do  with  the  past. 

There  is  in  the  Aztec,  as  among  all  other 
races  of  men,  good  and  evil.  To  judge  his  good 
qualities  or  his  defects,  and  especially  his  capa- 
bilities, aright,  we  must  look  at  him  in  his  his- 
tory, and  not  in  the  state  of  moral  and  material 
inferiority  into  which  three  centuries  of  servitude 
have  plunged  him,  and  against  which  he  is  be- 
ginning to  react. 

According  to  their  traditions,  —  confirmed  by 
the  ideographic  paintings  that  have  come  down 
to  us,  and   in  which  the  principal  events  of  their 


THE    NAHUATLACS. 


51 


history  are  recorded,  the  Aztecs  called  their 
original  country  Aztlan.  Aztlan,  which  some 
historians  locate  near  Lake  Chapalla,  and  others 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Gulf  of  California, 
seems  to  have  been  an  island.  According  to 
their  annals,  the  Aztecs  had  left  it,  on  the  advice 
of  the  most  influential  man  of  their  nation  at 
that  time,  —  Huitziton.  This  priest,  for  some 
unknown  reason,  continually  urged  his  country- 
men to  move  southward.  One  day,  standing  un- 
der a  tree,  he  heard  a  bird  singing,  and  repeating 
the  word  tihui.  which  in  the  Aztec  language 
means,  "  let  us  start."  He  took  another  priest 
as  a  witness  of  what  he  had  just  heard,  and  the 
two  persuaded  their  tribe  that  the  bird  was  the 
messenger  of  a  god,  who  commanded  them  to 
set  out.  In  this  legend  we  see,  in  all  probability, 
the  device  of  a  skilful  leader,  who,  in  order  to 
induce  his  countrymen  to  follow  him,  made  an 
impression  on  their  superstitious  minds  by  means 
of  a  pretended  miracle. 

It  was  about  the  year  648  a.  d.  that  seven  of 
the  principal  tribes  of  the  great  nation  of  the 
Nahuatlacs  —  called  Nahua  by  modern  histo- 
rians—  left  their  fatherland.  No  point,  perhaps, 
in  the  history  of  the  ancient  Aztecs,  has  given 
rise  to  a  greater  number  of  controversies  than 
this  long  journey,  hieroglyphically  described  in  a 
great  many  celebrated  manuscripts,  —  which,  un- 
fortunately, seemed  to  contradict  one  another, 
and   which    misled    the    historians.      The    recent 


52  THE   AZTECS. 

labors  of  Ramirez,  and  the  still  more  recent 
researches  of  Orozco,  have  dispelled  some  of  the 
clouds  which  hung  over  this  subject,  and  have 
made  the  manuscripts  agree.  It  follows  from  the 
close  and  logical  studies  of  the  two  savants  re- 
ferred  to  that  the  famous  journey  made  by  the 
Aztecs  was  two-fold.  At  a  very  remote  period 
they  must  have  advanced  towards  the  valley  of 
Anahuac,  and  subsequently  returned  to  their  own 
country.  Many  years  after,  at  the  instigation  of 
Huitziton,  they  marched  forth  anew,  their  minds 
fully  made  up  this  time  to  settle  in  the  beautiful 
country  of  which  their  fathers  had  only  caught  a 
glimpse. 

Having  left  the  shores  of  Lake  Chapalla,  the 
emigrants  crossed  the  modern  province  of  Xa- 
lisco,  followed  the  course  of  the  Tolotlan  River, 
and  stopped  at  Culiacan.  At  this  place  the  terri- 
ble Huitzilipochtli,  the  god  of  war,  —  whom  they 
had  entitled  their  protector,  and  of  whom  they 
possessed  a  wooden  image,  —  demanded  through 
the  mouth  of  his  priest,  Aacatl,  that  they  should 
build  him  a  tabernacle,  and  that  priests  should 
be  charged  to  carry  it.  Aacatl  —  at  this  time  the 
real  head  of  the  tribe  —  received  the  orders  of 
the  god  directly,  and  transmitted  them  to  the 
people  who  followed  him.  In  this  way  the  will  of 
the  skilful  politician  was  executed  without  reply  ; 
for  no  one  dared  contradict  a  god. 

It  was  not  long  before  Aacatl,  who  did  not  find 
in  the  other  tribes  the  same  submission  as  in  his 


THE    NAHUATLACS. 


53 


own,  caused  the  god  to  speak  again.  The  Aztecs, 
his  special  proteges,  received  a  command  to  sepa- 
rate from  their  companions  on  the  journey,  and  at 
the  same  time,  to  take  the  name  of  Mexi,  as 
privileged  children  of  Mexitli  or  Huitzilipochtli. 
Aacatl  thus  wiped  out  the  past,  and  the  new 
name  which  he  chose  to  give  his  fellow-country- 
men became  not  only  a  sign  of  distinction,  but  of 
superiority.  Transformed  into  Mexicatls  by  the 
express  decree  of  their  favorite  god,  the  Aztecs 
thenceforth  possessed  a  deep  feeling  of  national- 
ity. Like  the  Hebrews  of  old,  as  has  been  re- 
marked, they  considered  themselves  the  people 
par  excellence,  and  this  belief,  by  the  confidence 
with  which  it  inspired  them,  enabled  them  to 
triumph  over  the  vicissitudes  against  which  nas- 
cent nations  have  to  contend. 

While  the  Aztecs  led  a  sedentary  life  for  a 
time,  the  other  Nahuan  nations  spread  over  Ana- 
huac  and  covered  it  with  kingdoms  which,  for  the 
most  part,  possessed  no  territory  save  that  by 
which  their  single  city  was  surrounded.  Divided 
ad  infinitum^  and  forgetful  of  their  common  origin 
which  should  have  held  them  united,  the  Nahuas 
were  for  centuries  engaged  in  ceaseless  conflicts 
with  one  another.  In  these  struggles,  the  small 
states  were  in  time  absorbed  by  the  more  prosper- 
ous, which,  in  all  probability  would,  to  the  very 
hist  of  them,  have  been  absorbed  in  turn  by  the 
Aztecs,  had  it  not  been  for  the  coming  of  the 
Spaniards. 


54  THE   AZTECS. 

Having  at  last  left  Culiacan,  the  Aztecs  entered 
the  province  of  Colima ;  then  turning  toward  the 
east,  they  went  as  far  as  Tollan.  Shortly  before 
reaching  this  city  they  had  separated  into  two 
bands,  from  a  motive  which  one  of  their  legends 
explains ;  and  this  division  was  destined  to  have 
serious  consequences.  Two  chests  were  found  in 
their  camp.  One  of  them  contained  a  precious 
stone,  the  possession  of  which  occasioned  violent 
disputes ;  the  other,  two  bits  of  dry  wood,  which 
the  greater  number  disdained.  But  Aacatl,  hav- 
ing rubbed  the  pieces  of  wood  against  each  other, 
caused  fire  to  spring  forth  from  them.  Those 
who  had  preferred  the  stone  afterwards  took  the 
name  of  Tlatelolcos  ("  hill  of  sand  ")  from  the  place 
where  they  settled ;  and  those  who  had  preferred 
the  wood,  that  is  to  say,  the  useful  to  the  orna- 
mental, took  the  name  of  TcnocJicos.  The  two 
parties,  although  they  had  suddenly  become  ene- 
mies, nevertheless  continued  their  way  together, 
neither  of  them  wishing  to  part  company  with 
the  image  of   Huitzilipochtli. 

The  zig-zag  route  and  occasional  counter- 
marches of  the  Aztecs,  whom  it  is  useless  to  fol- 
low step  by  step  in  their  peregrinations,  need  not 
surprise  us  when  we  remember  that  they  were  not 
journeying  towards  any  definite  goal.  Many  a 
time  they  stopped  and  began  to  build  cabins  for 
themselves ;  but  owing  either  to  the  discovery  of 
some  unfitness  in  the  place  they  had  selected  to 
settle   in,  or  to  the   injunction   of  a    neighboring 


MIGRATIONS. 


55 


people,  they  set  out  again.  At  each  of  these 
stations,  however,  they  left  colonies  made  up  of 
the  sick,  or  of  those  who  had  grown  tired  of  this 
endless  journey. 

Thus  for  several  centuries,  now  tolerated  and 
now  repulsed  by  the  people  whose  territory  they 
were  crossing,  the  Aztecs  wandered  in  search  of 
a  definite  place  where  they  might  settle.  About 
the  year  1 216, they  reached  Tzompango  ("place  of 
bones  "),  a  large  city  of  the  valley  to  which  they 
were  destined  afterwards  to  give  their  name  of 
Mexicatls  from  which  the  words  Mexicans  and 
Mexico  have  been  formed. 

Being  well  received  by  the  Chichimec  king 
Xolotl,  who,  convinced  that  he  had  nothino-  to 
fear  from  them,  allowed  them  to  sojourn  in  his 
territory,  —  the  Aztecs  believed  that  their  long 
journey  had  come  to  an  end  at  last.  Soon  perse- 
cuted, however,  by  one  of  the  generals  of  their 
hosts,  whose  daughter  one  of  their  priests  had  car- 
ried off,  they  sought  refuge  at  Chapultepec,  which 
belonged  to  the  Colhuas.  The  latter,  after  a  few 
years,  demanded  tribute  of  them,  and  on  the  re- 
fusal of  the  Aztecs  to  pay  it,  the  Colhuas  declared 
war  against  them.  The  Aztecs,  having  been  con- 
quered, were  reduced  to  a  veritable  slavery,  and 
their  existence  as  a  nation  seemed  compromised 
for  all  time. 

Defeated  in  turn  by  their  neighbors  the  Xoclii- 
milcos,  the  Colhuas  called  their  slaves  to  their 
assistance.     Animated  by  the  hope  of  recovering 


56  THE   AZTECS. 

their  liberty,  the  Aztecs  fought  furiously,  and  de- 
cided the  battle  in  favor  of  their  masters.  In  the 
absence  of  arms,  they  had  provided  themselves 
with  long  sticks  which  they  used  like  lances,  and 
which  were  besides  of  great  service  in  help- 
ing them  to  leap  over  the  trenches  with  which 
the  battle-field  was  furrowed.  Desirous  of  caus- 
ing the  enemy  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
harm,  and  at  the  same  time  not  to  lose  the  benefit 
of  their  courage,  they  agreed,  instead  of  pausing 
to  make  them  prisoners,  to  cut  off  the  ears  of  all 
those  they  could  reach.  After  the  battle,  when 
their  masters  took  them  to  task  because  they  had 
no  captives  to  show,  they  exhibited  such  an  im- 
mense number  of  ears  that  the  Colhuas,  surprised 
both  by  the  astuteness  and  the  valor  of  their  allies, 
treated  them  with  even  greater  severity  than  be- 
fore. Overwhelmed  with  new  burdens,  and  de- 
spised by  their  masters,  the  fugitives  again  terrified 
the  Colhuas  by  human  sacrifices,  and  received  an 
order  to  depart.  Happy  over  the  recovery  of  their 
liberty,  they  again  began  their  peregrinations,  and 
settled  near  lakes  Tcvxoco,  Xochimilco,  Chalco, 
and  Xaltocan,  —  then  much  larger  than  they  are 
now,  —  from  which  they  were  never  again  to  depart. 
On  their  arrival,  one  of  their  chiefs  —  the  chiefs 
were  twenty  in  number,  and  the  principal  of  them 
was  called  Tenoch  —  saw  a  cactus  growing  on  a 
rock  on  an  island,  and  on  the  cactus  an  eagle 
perched,  holding  in  his  beak  a  bird,  according  to 
some,  —  a  snake,  according  to  others.      The  sight 


FOUNDATION  OF  TENOCHTITLAN.      57 

answered  to  one  of  the  religious  traditions  of  the 
emigrants.  They  immediately  founded  a  city 
there,  which  they  first  named  Tenochtitlan  ("  stone 
and  cactus  "),  and  later,  Mexico.  This  happened  in 
1325.  An  eagle  perched  on  a  cactus  and  hold- 
ing a  serpent  in  his  beak  is  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 
modern  Mexican  nation. 

The  real  meaning  of  the  word  Mexico  has 
been  the  subject  of  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
and  is  the  subject  of  discussion  still.  Some  sup- 
pose it  to  be  derived  from'  Metzitli  ("  the  moon  "), 
because  that  body  was  reflected  in  the  waters  of 
Lake  Tezcoco  ;  others  believe  it  to  be  the  name 
of  the  chief  who  commanded  the  Aztecs  at  the 
time  of  the  foundation  of  the  city.  Others,  less 
numerous,  think  that  the  name  signifies  spring 
or  fountain.  But,  as  Orozco  justly  remarks,  the 
etymology  of  a  word  of  the  Nahuan  language 
should  now  be  sought  for  in  the  hieroglyphic 
which  represents  it.  But  indubitably,  Mexico, 
according  to  the  signs  which  represent  it  in  the 
ideographic  manuscripts,  means  city  of  Mcxitli,  of 
Huitzilipochtli,  or  of  Mexitzin,  which  are  all  one. 

Having  adopted  their  new  place  of  residence, 
the  first  care  of  the  Aztecs  was  to  build  a  cabin 
of  mud  and  reeds,  which  they  called  a  temple,  to 
shelter  the  image  of  their  protecting  god,  Huit- 
zilipochtli. Hunting  for  an  animal  to  sacrifice 
on  the  altar  of  the  god,  one  of  the  Aztec  chiefs, 
Xomichil,  met  a  Colhuan,  and  took  him  to  his 
fellow-countrymen.       The    Aztecs,    beholding    in 


58  THE    AZTECS. 

this  unfortunate  being  nothing  but  one  of  their 
old  oppressors,  delivered  him  to  their  high-priest, 
who  tore  out  his  heart  to  offer  it  to  Huitzilipoch- 
tli.  Thus  began  the  series  of  terrible  massacres 
which  for  three  centuries  stained  the  capital  of 
the  new  empire  with  blood. 

Around  the  rustic  temple  which  they  had  just 
built,  the  Aztecs,  for  want  of  more  solid  mate- 
rials, constructed  groups  of  simple  huts  made  of 
earth  and  reeds.  Such  was  the  humble  origin 
of  the  great  city  which  was  destined  to  become 
the  head  of  a  vast  kingdom,  and  whose  magnifi- 
cence was  one  day  to  fill  its  conquerors  with 
wonder. 

Confined  on  the  little  islands  which  then  cov- 
ered Lake  Tezcoco,  —  a  fact  which  shows  how 
small  their  number  was;  divided  besides  into  two 
parties,  Tlatelolcos  and  Tenochcos ;  in  continual 
dread  of  the  malevolence  of  their  already  pow- 
erful neighbors,  —  the  Aztecs,  who  possessed  no 
arable  lands,  spent  many  a  long  year  in  the  most 
abject  misery.  Without  textures  of  any  kind  for 
clothes,  and  without  the  means  to  manufacture 
any,  they  went  almost  naked,  living  on  fish,  in- 
sects, and  aquatic  plants.  Made  ingenious  by 
necessity,  they  by  degrees  united  several  of  the 
islands,  by  filling  up  the  canals  that  separated 
them ;  then  they  obtained  stone  and  wood  by  ex- 
changing the  products  of  their  fishing  and  hunt- 
ing for  these  materials.  Finally,  to  supply  the 
place  of  land,  of  which  they  did  not  have  enough, 


DIVISIONS    OF   THE    CITY 


59 


they  devised  the  celebrated  chinampas  or  float- 
ing gardens,  on  which  they  were  able  to  cultivate 
Indian  corn  and   flowers. 

They  were  beginning  to  extend  their  posses- 
sions, when  their  protecting  god  commanded 
them,  by  the  mouth  of  his  high-priest,  to  divide 
their  city  into  four  principal  quarters,  —  these 
latter  to  be  divided  into  smaller  sections,  deter- 
mined by  the  number  of  gods  worshipped.  Cer- 
tain chiefs,  who  were  probably  not  greatly  favored 
by  this  division,  retired  with  their  followers  to  a 
neighboring  island,  where  they  fou  ided  the  city 
of  Tlatelolco,  now  Santiago.  This  separation, 
the  precise  date  of  which  is  not  known,  must  have 
taken  place  eighty-two  years  after  the  foundation 
of  Mexico,  to  which  it  raised  up  a  rival. 

We  have  now  by  degrees  reached  the  really 
historic  period  of  the  Aztec  annals.  Henceforth, 
thanks  to  the  ideographic  paintings,  corroborated 
by  tradition,  our  steps  will  be  more  certain  and 
we  shall  be  able  to  state  facts.  As  we  remarked 
above,  we  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  follow 
step  by  step  the  wanderings  of  the  people  whom 
we  are  endeavoring  to  resuscitate.  It  is  sufficient 
for  our  purpose  —  which  is  not  to  instruct  the 
learned,  but  to  render  the  history  of  a  once  pow- 
erful nation  accessible  to  all  —  to  show  the  origin 
or  be^innin^s  of  that  nation,  and  to  follow  its 
people  to  the  spot  which  was  to  be  the  theatre 
of  their  action  and  which  the)'  were  destined  to 
render   illustrious.      But  before  treating  of   their 


60  THE   AZTECS. 

religion,  their  customs,  and  their  arts,  let  us  draw 
a  rapid  sketch  of  the  reign  of  the  kings  who  gov- 
erned the  Aztec  nation,  and  endeavor  to  detract 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  dryness  of  a  chronol- 
ogy relieved  by  few  cheering  facts,  and  which 
makes  mention  of  scarcely  any  events  but  per- 
petual  battles. 

It  may  be  well,  however,  to  glance  at  the  con- 
dition  of  the  immense  valley  which  the  Aztecs, 
whom  we  shall  henceforth  call  Mexicans,  are 
about  to  conquer,  at  the  moment  when  they  are 
preparing  to  elect  the  first  of  their  kings.  As 
Orozco  has  proved,  at  this  period,  1357,  the  bar- 
barous element  in  the  great  valley  of  Anahuac 
was  almost  entirely  conquered,  and  the  peoples 
of  Nahuan  origin  governed  the  other  ethno- 
graphic families.  Divided  into  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  small  states,  the  conquerors  had  changed 
their  name  and  were  striving  for  an  independent 
existence.  There  were  at  this  time  in  the  valley 
about  thirty  principal  cities,  united  by  a  sort  of 
feudal  bond,  each  striving  to  get  the  mastery, 
and  whose  interests  were  therefore  conflicting. 
The  cities  of  the  south  united  against  those  of 
the  north,  and  Ouinatzin,  king  of  the  Chichi- 
mecs,  came  forth  at  length  victorious  from  a  con- 
flict in  which  streams  of  blood  had  been  shed, 
and  the  benefits  of  which  the  Aztecs  were  des- 
tined to  reap. 

But  before  we  sfive  a  chronological  account  of 
the   reign   of  each   of  the   Aztec  kings,  we  must 


THE    CALENDAR. 


61 


return  to  a  subject  which  we  merely  touched 
upon  when  speaking  of  the  Mayas  and  the  Tol- 
tecs.  We  have  reference  to  the  celebrated  cal- 
endar adopted  by  all  the  peoples  of  Anahuac 
after   it   had   been   perfected   by   the  Aztecs.     It 


Fig.  4.  —  The  Aztec  Cycle. 

certainly  is  not  our  intention  to  give  the  dates 
which  we  shall  have  to  mention,  in  the  Nahuan 
language ;  however,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  un- 
derstanding of  a  multitude  of  facts,  it  seems  de- 
sirable to  explain  the  ingenious  and  exact  manner 
in  which  the  Mexicans  divided  time. 


62  THE    AZTECS. 

The  Aztec  cycle  (fig.  4)  was  represented  by  a  cir- 
cle, with  a  picture  of  the  sun  in  the  centre.  Around 
this  circle,  from  right  to  left,  there  were  repre- 
sentations of  the  four  symbolic  signs  of  the  years, 
signs  which  were  always  reproduced  in  an  estab- 
lished order.  This  cycle,  we  know,  was  made  up 
of  fifty-two  years,  divided  into  four  periods  of 
thirteen  years  each.  The  first  year  —  we  must 
read  from  right  to  left  —  was  called  tochtli,  the 
rabbit ;  the  second,  acatl,  the  reed ;  the  third,  tec- 
patl,  the  flint ;  the  fourth,  calli\  the  house.  The 
fifth,  taking  these  objects  up  again  in  the  same 
order,  was  the  second  rabbit;  the  sixth,  the  sec- 
ond reed,  and  so  on  up  to  the  thirteenth,  after 
which  the  series  commenced  anew,  taking  the 
second  sign  as  a  starting  point.  A  glance  at 
Fig.  4  will  make  this  explanation  clear.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  the  rings  of  the  serpent  which 
surround  the  cycle  divide  it  into  periods  of  thir- 
teen years,  and  that  these  rings  at  the  same  time 
mark  the  four  cardinal  points. 

The  difference  in  point  of  duration  between 
the  solar  year  and  the  civil  year  was  known  to 
the  Aztecs,  and  to  remove  this  disagreement  they 
added  a  complementary  period  of  thirteen  days  — 
a  symbolic  number  with  them  —  to  the  end  of 
each  of  their  cycles.  In  their  belief,  the  transi- 
tion from  one  cycle  to  another  might  be  attended 
by  the  destruction  of  the  world ;  hence,  as  we 
shall  see,  this  period  was  dreaded  by  them.  In 
the    ideographic     paintings,     the     thirteen    days 


THE    CALENDAR. 


63 


between  the  end  of  one  cycle  and  the  beginning 
of  another  are  represented  by  blue  points. 

The  year,  the  picture  of  which  is  here  given 
(fig.  5),  was  made  up,  like  our  own,  of  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  days.     But  the  Aztec  months, 


Fig.  5.  —  The  Aztec  Year. 


of  which  there  were  eighteen,  composed  of  only 
twenty  days,  leave  an  excess  of  five  days,  which 
were  called  nemontemi  ("  useless  ").  These  days 
were  added  to  the  last  month  of  the  year, 
and  were  devoted  to  festivities. 


64 


THE    AZTECS. 


We  here  give  the  names  of  the  Aztec  months, 
with  their  meaning,  and  the  corresponding  dates 
in  our  own  time. 

The  second  of  February  is  adopted  as  the  first 
day  of  the  year,  although  this  date  is  strongly 
disputed. 

want  of  water       .     .     .  February  2. 

boning  of  men      .     .     .  February  21. 

short  fast March  13. 

long  fast April  2. 

dry  or  slippery     .     .     .  April  22. 

porridge May  12. 

little  feast  of  the  lords  June  1. 

great  feast  of  the  lords  June  21. 

birth  of  the  flowers       .  July  11. 

fall  of  the  fruits        .    .  July  31. 

month  of  brooms      .     .  August  20. 

arrival  of  the  gods  .     .  September  9. 

feast  of  the  mountains  September  29. 

francolin  (bird)    .     .     .  October  19. 

feast  of  the  flags       .     .  November  8. 

fall  of  the  waters      .     .  November  28. 

severe  weather    .     .     .  December  18. 

resuscitation    ....  January  7. 
empty  or  useless  days. 


I. 

Atlacahualco     .     . 

ii. 

Tla  caxipch  ualiztli 

in. 

Tozotontli     .     .     . 

IV. 

Hucitozotli    .     . 

V. 

Toxcatl    .     .     .     . 

VI. 

Etzalcualitzi 

VII. 

Tecitilhuitontli 

VIII. 

Hueiteciiilhititl 

IX. 

Tlaxochimaco    . 

X. 

Xocohnetzi    .     .     . 

XI. 

Ochpaniztli 

XII. 

Teolteco    .     .     .     . 

XIII. 

Tepelhiiitl     .     .     . 

XIV. 

Qitecholli       .     .     . 

XV. 

Panquetzaliiztli 

XVI. 

Atemoztli      .     . 

XVII. 

Tititl 

SCVIII. 

Tzcalli       .     .     .     . 

Nemontemi  .     .     . 

The  names  of  the  days  (fig.  6)  are  as  follows:  — 


I. 

2. 

Cipactli  .     . 
Ehecatl  .     . 

the  fish. 

the  wind. 

3- 

Colli  .     .     . 

the  house. 

4- 

5- 
6. 

7- 

Ciietzpallin  . 
Coatl  .     .     . 
Miquiztli     . 
Mazatl    .     . 

the  lizard, 
the  serpent 
death. 
the  deer. 

8. 

Tochtli    .     . 

the  rabbit. 

9- 

Atl     .     .     . 

water. 

IO. 

Itzcuintliz   . 

the  dog. 

1 1 .  Ozomatli 

1 2.  Malinalli 

13.  Acatl  .     . 

14.  Ocelot  I     . 

1 5.  Cuauhtli 

16.  Cozcacuahtli 

1 7 .  Oil  in 

18.  Tccpatl   . 

19.  Quiahuitl 

20.  Xochitl  . 


the  monkey, 
the  hay. 
the  reed, 
the  tiger. 
the  eagle, 
the  bird. 
the  sun. 
the  flint, 
the  rain, 
the  flower. 


Like  our  own,  the  Aztec  day  was  divided  into 
four  parts  :  — 


THE    CALENDAR. 


65 


Morning  . 
Noon  .  . 
Evening  . 
Midnight  . 


iquica  tonatiuh    . 

nepantla  tonatiuh 
onaqui  tonatiuh  . 
yohuahiepantla  . 


sunrise. 

middle  of  the  sun's  course. 

sunset. 

middle  of  the  night. 


Such  is  the  famous  calendar  which,  more  ex- 
act than  that  of  the  Egyptians,  and  than  our  own 


\o 


0\  11 

Fig.  6.  —  Days  of  the  Aztec  Calendar. 

at  the  same  period,  is  certainly  superior  to  the 
rest  of  the  scientific  knowledge  possessed  by  the 
Mayas,  the  Toltecs,  and  the  Aztecs.  Whose 
work  was  it?  What  man  of  genius  invented  it? 
The  chronicles  say  Ouetzacoatl,  who  appears  sim- 
ply to  have  appropriated  it  to  himself. 

5 


66  THE    AZTECS. 

Since  the  Mexicans  afforded  their  annalists  so 
exact  a  source  of  the  divisions  of  time  as  the  one 
we  have  just  described,  is  it  not  strange  that  the 
chronology  of  the  greatest  facts  in  their  history 
should  have  fallen  into  a  veritable  chaos  imme- 
diately after  the  Spanish  conquest  ?  Imperfectly 
versed  in  the  art  of  reading  the  ideographic 
paintings,  and  not  being  able  to  detect  the  errors 
made  by  the  copyists,  historians  from  the  first 
entered  upon  a  wrong  road,  on  which  they  were 
followed  by  those  who  had  become  indoctrinated 
by  their  writings.  On  the  other  hand,  more  than 
one  student,  gratified  to  find  discrepancies  which 
he  might  endeavor  to  explain  by  ingenious  hypo- 
theses, mistook  his  way  and  departed  still  farther 
from  the  goal  he  was  seeking.  It  was  not  long 
before  each  writer  had  his  own  chronology,  and 
all  agreement  was  impossible. 

Struck  by  this  anarchy,  the  learned  and  inde- 
fatigable Orozco  undertook  to  remedy  it.  He 
wisely  considered  that  the  solution  of  the  pro- 
blem he  wished  to  throw  light  on  could  not  be 
found  in  a  comparison  of  documents  posterior  to 
the  conquest,  which  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent 
repeated  each  other,  but  in  those  of  Aztec  origin, 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  hieroglyphic  paintings.  He 
therefore  made  a  close  study  of  such  of  these 
documents  as  had  been  preserved,  and  saw  that 
the  sixty-three  ideographic  manuscripts  collected 
by  the  first  viceroy  of  Mexico  to  be  sent  to 
Charles  V.,  and  which  are  known  as  the  Codex  de 


THE    CODEX    MENDOZA.  67 

Mendoza,  was  the  most  accurate  source  that  could 
be  consulted.  Following  his  example,  and  con- 
vinced that,  thanks  to  the  labor  of  the  learned 
Mexican,  it  will  henceforth  be  considered  autho- 
rity, we  take  the  Codex  Mendoza  as  our  guide. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

First  Aztec  Kings.  --  Acamapictli.  —  Huitzilihuitl.  — 
quimalpopoca.  —  itzacoatl.  —  moteuczoma  ilhuica- 
mina.  —  axayacatl.  —  tlzoc.  —  ahuizotl. —  retrospect. 

UP  to  the  year  1363,  which  must  have  been 
subsequent  to  the  most  ancient  eruption 
known  of  Popocatepetl,  the  political  government 
of  the  Aztecs  was  aristocratic.  They  obeyed  a 
council  composed  of  twenty  of  the  most  notable 
men  of  the  tribe,  first  among  whom,  as  might 
naturally  be  expected,  was  the  high-priest  of 
Huitzilipochtli.  According  to  the  Codex  Men- 
doza,  the  president  of  the  great  council  at  the 
time  of  the  founding  of  Mexico  was  called 
Tenoch.  It  was  after  his  death  that  the  Aztecs, 
following  the  example  of  their  neighbors,  the 
Alcolhuas,  the  Tepanecs  and  the  Chichimecs,* 
who  prospered  under  regal  authority,  thought 
of  adopting  the  same  form  of  government.  As 
they  desired  a  sovereign  who  would  have  their 
well-being  at  heart,  and  who,  if  need  were,  could 
command  their  army,  they  chose  Acamapictli 
("  the  hand  full  of  reeds  "),  who  was  famed  for  his 
wisdom.  On  his  father's  side,  the  sovereign  elect 
belonged     to    the   Aztec    nobility,    and     on     his 


ACAMAPICTL1.  69 

mother's  to  that  of  the  Alcolhuas,  among  whom, 
it  is  believed,  he  was  brought  up. 

During  the  thirty  years  of  his  reign  Acama- 
pictli  wisely  ruled  the  few  cities  that  constituted 
his  entire  kingdom,  and  his  people  increased 
greatly  in  numbers ;  but  being  a  feudatory  of  the 
king  of  the  Tepanecs,  Tezozomoc,  he  had  to 
assist  him  in  many  of  his  wars. 

It  was  not  long  before  Tezozomoc,  infatuated 
by  his  power,  demanded  from  the  Mexicans  not 
only  military  services,  but  large  and  often  un- 
reasonable tribute.  Thus,  under  pain  of  com- 
plete servitude,  he  ordered  them  one  day  to 
furnish  him  with  a  field  sown  with  Indian  corn,  all- 
spice, and  gourds,  and  light  enough  to  float  on  the 
water.  At  the  appointed  time,  the  tyrant,  to  his 
great  astonishment,  saw  the  field  which  he  had 
ordered  advance  towards  the  shore  of  the  lake  ; 
it  was  the  first  of  the  floating  isles,  which  at  a 
later  date  filled  the  Spaniards  with  wonder.  The 
effect  of  the  extravagant  and  apparently  unrealiz- 
able caprice  of  Tezozomoc  was  to  stimulate  the 
inventive  powers  of  his  vassals,  and  what  was 
intended  to  be  their  ruin  turned  to  their  advan- 
tage. For  want  of  arable  lands  they  betook 
themselves  to  filling  their  lakes  with  ckinampas, 
or  floating  islands,  and  their  material  condition 
was  thus  greatly  improved. 

In  spite  of  the  unfavorable  circumstances  in 
which  he  was  placed  in  consequence  of  the  sub- 
jection to  which  he  was  condemned,  Acamapictli 


70  THE   AZTECS. 

succeeded  in  ruling  in  peace.  He  caused  a  great 
many  stone  buildings  to  be  constructed  in  his 
capital,  and  began  the  canals  of  the  lake.  He 
died  in  1396,  regretting  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  relieve  his  people  from  the  crushing 
yoke  of  the  Tepanecs.  In  the  ideographic  manu- 
scripts Acamapictli  is  represented  by  a  crowned 
head,  surmounted  by  a  hand  holding  a  bunch  of 
reeds. 

After  an  interregnum  of  some  months,  electors, 
chosen  from  the  nobles  of  the  four  quarters  of 
Mexico,  elected  prince  Huitzilihuitl  ("feather  of 
the  humming  bird  "),  son  of  the  deceased  king,  as 
their  ruler.  The  people  having  approved  of  the 
choice  thus  made,  the  young  prince  was  con- 
ducted to  the  royal  mansion,  seated  on  the 
throne,  the  copilli  or  crown  placed  on  his  head, 
and  was  anointed,  according  to  Acosta  (whom 
Torquemada,  we  believe  wrongfully,  contradicts), 
with  the  "  divine  balsam  "  used  in  the  service  of 
Huitzilipochtli, —  that  is  to  say,  pine  resin. 

The  new  king  was  not  married,  and  although 
the  undertaking  seemed  a  rash  one,  Acamapictli 
having  unsuccessfully  attempted  it,  the  nobles 
determined  to  have  him  espouse  the  daughter  of 
Tezozomoc.  The  latter,  who  contemplated  the 
subjugation  of  the  peoples  who  surrounded  his 
kingdom,  was  just  then  in  great  need  of  allies, 
Desirous  of  attaching  the  Aztecs,  whose  bravery 
he  was  acquainted  with,  to  himself,  he  accepted 
the   proposed   marriage,   and   reduced   the  heavy 


HUITZILIHUITL. 


71 


tribute  he  had  thus  far  exacted  to  some  simple 
ofifts  of  an  insignificant  value. 

Having  become  the  son-in-law  of  the  powerful 
king  of  the  Tepanecs,  and  seeing  the  advantages 
which  this  relation  had  secured  him,  Huitzilihuitl 
(sovereigns  had  the  right  to  have  several  wives) 
lost  no  time  in  allying  himself  to  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  valley.  A  crafty  politician,  he  knew 
how  to  profit  by  these  alliances,  and  the  ascending 
march  of  the  Aztecs  dates  from  his  reign.  Faith- 
ful to  Tezozomoc,  Huilzilihuitl  seconded  him  in 
all  the  wars  which  he  undertook;  rendered  him 
many  services,  and  returned  more  than  once  to 
his  own  capital  a  victor.  Thanks  to  their  intre- 
pidity and  to  the  talents  of  their  sovereign,  the 
political  situation  of  the  Mexicans  was  bettered, 
their  material  condition  improved,  and  their 
sword  began  to  have  weight  in  the  balance  of 
the  neighboring  kings.  Having  become  freer, 
without  ceasing  to  be  industrious,  they  extended 
their  commerce,  and  substituted  cotton  clothing 
for  the  garments  of  agave  fibre  which  they  then 
wore. 

At  this  time  Maxatla,  the  brother-in-law  and 
special  enemy  of  their  king,  called  together  the 
nobility  of  Azcapozalco,  capital  of  the  Tepanecs, 
and  directed  their  attention  to  the  rapid  prosper- 
ity of  the  Aztecs,  to  their  pride  and  growing 
power,  representing  them  as  enemies  to  be  feared 
in  the  near  future.  Huitzilihuitl,  still  too  weak 
to  fight  against  the  Tepanecs,  had  to  humiliate 


72 


THE   AZTECS. 


himself  and  help  his  enemy  in  another  war.  He 
died  before  it  was  ended,  in  141 7.  He  had 
reigned  twenty  years,  enacted  useful  laws,  ex- 
tended his  kingdom  by  draining  many  of  the 
marshes  formed  by  the  lake,  remodelled  the  army, 
and  definitively  granted  to  the  nobles  the  right 
to  elect  their  kings.  These  electors  chose  his 
brother  Quimalpopoca  as  his  successor,  and  it 
was  then  established  that  the  new  sovereign 
should  always  be  chosen  from  among  the 
brothers,  or  if  there  were  none,  from  among  the 
nephews  of  the  deceased  king.  In  the  ideo- 
graphic manuscripts,  a  bird's  head,  holding  a 
feather  in  its  beak,  surmounts  the  head  of  the 
second  king  of  the   Mexicans. 

Quimalpopoca  ("smoking  shield")  left  almost 
nothing  in  the  history  of  his  country  but  the 
remembrance  of  his  domestic  misfortunes  and 
of  his  tragic  end.  His  wife,  allured  to  the  court 
of  Maxatla,  usurper  of  the  throne  of  Alcolhuacan, 
which  belonged  to  his  nephew  Nezahualcoyotl, 
was  violated  by  the  tyrant.  This  was  an  affront 
all  the  more  insulting  as,  a  short  time  before, 
Maxatla,  in  exchange  for  a  present  which  the 
Aztecs  had  offered  him,  had  answered  by  sending 
them  a  dress  of  a  woman.  Unable  to  avenge 
himself  for  these  insults,  the  unfortunate  king 
determined  to  sacrifice  himself  on  the  altar  of 
Huitzilipochtli.  Apprised  of  his  design,  Maxatla, 
who  must  have  had  informants  among  the  Mexi- 
can   nobility,  had  Quimalpopoca   carried    off   by 


1TZAC0ATL.  J  3 

surprise,  and  confined  him  in  a  wooden  cage. 
Tired  of  life,  the  royal  prisoner  hung  himself 
to  the  bars  of  his  prison  in  1427.  He  had 
reigned  thirteen  years. 

During  this  period  the  Mexican  nation,  in 
spite  of  the  misfortunes  of  its  king,  had  pro- 
gressed and  had  won  a  naval  battle  on  the  lake, 
against  the  inhabitants  of  Chalco,  who  had  tried 
to  surprise  them.  The  great  causeway  which 
connected  Mexico  with  Tlacotalpan  was  con- 
structed during  the  reign  of  Ouimalpopoca,  and, 
according  to  Torquemada,  it  was  he  also  who 
erected  the  first  of  the  so-called  sacrificial  stones 
and  another  destined  for  gladiatorial  fights. 

Humiliated  by  the  tyrant  of  Alcolhuacan,  the 
Aztecs  resolved  to  place  at  their  head  a  man 
capable  of  avenging  them,  and  the  electors  gave 
the  crown  of  Ouimalpopoca  to  his  half-brother 
on  his  father's  side,  Itzacoatl  ("serpent  of  stone  "), 
a  natural  son  of  Acamapictli  and  a  slave.  The 
shame  cast  upon  him  by  his  mother's  condition 
was  redeemed  by  his  own  merit,  —  by  the  military 
talents  of  which  he  had  given  many  proofs  during 
the  thirty  years  that  he  had  commanded  the 
army.  Once  in  power  he  resolved  to  conquer 
the  city  of  Azcapozalco,  and  finally  to  release 
his  people  from  the  weighty  supremacy  of  the 
Tepanecs.  With  this  intention  he  allied  himself 
to  the  celebrated  Alcolhuan  prince,  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  and  marched  against  Maxatla.  Well 
seconded  by  his  nephews,  Tlacaelel  and  Moteuc- 


74  THE    AZTECS. 

zoma,  —  whose  military  exploits  some  historians 
at  times  seem  to  confound, —  Itzacoatl  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  his  endeavors  crowned  with 
success.  A  terrible  battle,  which  lasted  two 
whole  days,  was  fought  and  won  against  Maxatla 
in  person,  who  was  pursued  into  his  own  capital. 
This  memorable  fight,  which  by  its  consequences 
almost  completely  changed  the  political  condition 
of  the  valley  of  Anahuac,  took  place  in  1428, 
about  a  century  after  the  foundation  of  Mexico. 

In  this  supreme  struggle  Itzacoatl  had  been 
abandoned  for  a  moment  by  the  people  of  his 
capital,  who,  dreading  the  results  of  an  unequal 
contest,  had  mutinied  in  the  very  hour  of  battle. 
Therefore,  once  victorious,  the  king  especially 
rewarded  the  nobility,  who  had  valiantly  sec- 
onded him.  He  confirmed  their  old  privileges, 
conferred  new  ones  on  them,  and  divided  the 
greater  part  of  the  conquered  territory  among 
them  and  the  priests.  But  one  of  his  first  cares 
was  to  place  Nezahualcoyotl,  his  faithful  ally, 
again  on  the  throne  of  Alcolhuacan,  and  to  ap- 
point a  noble  of  the  Tepanecs  who  had  been 
opposed  to  the  war  to  govern  them.  The  two 
new  kin^s  agreed  to  sustain  the  sovereign  of 
Mexico  in  all  his  wars,  and  to  recognize  his 
supremacy.  This  double  treaty  of  alliance  was 
not  the  only  illustration  of  Itzacoatl's  political 
ability ;  he  took  care  to  reward  all  those  who 
had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  recent  strug- 
gle, measuring-    the   reward    by   the   valor  which 


MOTEUCZOMA   ILHUICAMINA.  75 

each  one  had  displayed  or  by  the  services  he  had 
rendered,  without  taking  any  account  of  his  con- 
dition. This  act  of  wisdom,  imitated  by  his  suc- 
cessors, was  an  incentive  to  the  Aztecs,  and  one 
of  the  causes  of  their  future  greatness. 

Itzacoatl,  who  won  from  his  fellow-countrymen 
the  name  of  the  Great,  died  in  1440,  at  a  very 
advanced  age.  He  had  served  his  country  during 
thirty  years  as  a  general,  and  had  governed  it 
during  thirteen  as  king.  He  delivered  the  Aztecs 
from  all  servitude,  made  numerous  and  important 
conquests,  placed  the  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Chichimec  king's  again  on  the  throne  of  their 
ancestors,  enriched  his  country  with  the  spoils 
of  conquered  peoples,  built  a  great  many  edifices 
in  his  capital,  and  increased  the  number  of  alli- 
ances which  paved  the  way  to  the  greatness  of 
the  nation  he  had  wisely  governed.  For  political 
reasons  of  which  we  are  ignorant,  —  he  wished, 
the  annalists  say,  to  efface  the  past  from  the 
memory  of  his  people,  —  he  caused  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  paintings  which  recalled  the  history 
of  bygone  times  to  be  destroyed. 

The  four  electors  charged  with  the  selection 
of  his  successor  did  not  have  to  deliberate  Ion?. 
Itzacoatl  had  no  brother;  the  crown  had  there- 
fore to  revert  to  one  of  his  nephews,  and  no  one 
was  more  worthy  of  this  honor  than  Moteuczoma 
Ilhuicamina  ("he  who  throws  arrows  towards  the 
sky"),  the  "man  given  to  anger,"  according  to 
Torquemada.     This  prince,  son  of   Huitzilihuitl, 


76  THE   AZTECS. 

had  won  a  number  of  battles,  had  aided  Itzacoatl 
in  all  his  works,  had  given  a  thousand  proofs  of 
energy  and  capacity ;  hence  he  was  unanimously 
elected. 

After  the  harangues,  dances,  and  illuminations 
which  followed  every  new  election,  Moteuczoma, 
in  obedience  to  the  custom  which  required  that 
the  kings  should  in  person  conquer  the  prisoners 
that  were  to  be  sacrificed  on  the  day  of  their 
coronation,  began  a  campaign  against  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Chalco,  who  had  treacherously  retained 
him  captive  when  he  was  only  a  general.  Sec- 
onded by  Tlacaelel,  who,  on  account  of  his 
military  talent  and  wisdom  was  called  the  prince 
of  the  armies,  he  conquered  them,  and  took  many 
prisoners ;  then,  without  completing  the  subju- 
gation of  the  enemy,  he  returned  to  be  crowned. 

After  this,  desiring  to  secure  the  favor  of  the 
gods,  one  of  his  first  cares  was  to  order  the 
building  of  a  temple.  The  work  went  on  rapidly; 
for  the  Aztec  sovereigns,  in  the  execution  of 
their  plans,  proceeded  after  the  manner  of  the 
kings  of  Egypt.  They  brought  the  workmen 
together  by  thousands,  not  concerning  themselves 
about  their  liberty,  and  still  less  about  their  suf- 
ferings, the  life  of  a  vassal  being  of  little  value  in 
their  eyes.  When  the  temple  was  built  the 
active  warrior  took  the  field  again,  and  after  a 
prolonged  struggle,  he  at  last  succeeded  in  sub- 
jugating the  Chalcoans,  who  had  been  defeated 
in   a  decisive  battle.      Upon   the    field   of   battle 


MOTEUCZOMA    ILHUICAMINA. 


77 


he  devised  a  somewhat  original  decoration  for 
those  of  his  soldiers  who  had  distinguished 
themselves.  He  had  the  cartilage  of  the  nose 
pierced,  and  into  the  opening  thus  made  feathers 
ornamented  with  jewels  and  which  represented 
mustaches  were  introduced.  The  victorious  army 
was  then  led  back  to  Tenochtitlan  and  received 
with  unusual  demonstrations  of  joy.  Pompous 
funeral  ceremonies  were  afterwards  celebrated, 
in  honor  of  those  who  had  fallen. 

Taking  up  arms  again  a  short  time  afterwards, 
Moteuczoma  quickly  subjugated  the  entire  valley 
of  Anahuac  to  his  laws.  But  his  glorious  reiern 
was  saddened  by  many  calamities.  In  the  first 
place,  a  flood,  produced  by  the  excessive  rains  of 
1449,  nearly  destroyed  Mexico.  On  the  advice 
of  Nezahualcoyotl,  Moteuczoma  caused  a  dike 
nine  miles  long  to  be  built,  one  which,  without 
being  an  absolute  protection  to  the  city,  at  least 
preserved  it  from  surprise.  This  dike,  which  still 
exists,  is  called  the  Albarreda  Vieja. 

This  calamity  was  scarcely  remedied  when 
there  came  severe  frosts,  followed  by  a  drought, 
which  for  four  consecutive  years,  from  1450  to 
1454,  destroyed  the  crops  of  Indian  corn,  tin- 
principal  food  of  the  nation.  Then  the  valley 
was  covered  with  several  feet  of  snow,  a  phe- 
nomenon unknown  up  to  that  time.  Not  being 
able,  in  spite  of  his  generous  measures,  to  feed 
his  subjects,  Moteuczoma  permitted  them  to 
emigrate. 


7» 


THE   AZTECS. 


Years  of  good  crops  having  come  again,  the 
Mexicans  were  obliged  to  contend  with  the  Miz- 
tecs,  and  lost  the  first  battle  they  gave.  But  this 
defeat  was  quickly  repaired  by  the  king,  who 
took  possession  of  the  country  of  the  vanquished. 
He  then  caused  to  be  sculptured  the  famous 
Temalacatl  ("wheel  of  stone"),  the  bas-reliefs  of 
which  represent  the  principal  facts  of  the  war 
against  the  Tepanecs,  and  on  which  were  fought 
the  so-called  gladiatorial  combats.  He  had  one 
of  those  celebrated  stones  called  "  stones  of  the 
sun"  (cuauhxicalli)  cut;  he  also  had  his  portrait 
sculptured  on  the  rocks  of  Chapultepec,  and 
afterwards  had  the  Cuauxicalco  built. 

Huehue  Moteuczoma  Ilhuicamina,  who  was 
doubtless  the  ablest  of  the  Aztec  rulers,  under- 
took a  number  of  wars,  which  his  military  talents 
and  the  skill  of  Tlacaelel,  his  principal  lieuten- 
ant, turned  to  his  advantage ;  he  formed  a  vast 
and  victorious  empire  out  of  the  small  tributary 
kingdom  in  which  he  was  born.  Although  al- 
ways engaged  in  expeditions  against  his  neigh- 
bors, he  never  neglected  the  civil  government 
of  his  kingdom  ;  he  promulgated  the  laws  de- 
manded by  the  changes  that  had  taken  place  in 
it,  and  introduced  a  ceremonial  previously  un- 
known into  his  court.  He  caused  a  magnificent 
temple  to  the  god  of  war  to  be  erected,  increased 
the  number  of  priests,  —  but  also,  unfortunately, 
the  number  of  human  sacrifices.  A  very  tem- 
perate   man,    Moteuczoma   enacted   severe    laws 


AXAYACATL. 


79 


against  drunkenness ;  and  his  subjects  wor- 
shipped him  for  his  justice.  He  died  in  1469, 
after  a  reign  of  not  less  than  twenty  years,  hav- 
ing finished  the  work  begun  by  Itzacoatl.  In 
Aztec  manuscripts  the  head  of  Moteuczoma  is 
surmounted  by  a  portion  of  the  sky,  studded 
with  stars,  towards  which  an  arrow  is  represented 
as  flying. 

The  obsequies  of  Moteuczoma  over,  the  crown 
was  offered  to  Tlacaelel.  The  old  warrior  de- 
clined the  honor,  declaring  that  he  considered 
himself  more  useful  to  the  nation  as  a  oeneral 
than  he  could  be  as  king,  and  asked  that  all 
votes  should  be  cast  for  Axayacatl  ("  the  fly "). 
Tlacaelel's  selection  being  accepted,  in  lieu  of  the 
title  of  sovereign  he  himself  was  invested  by  the 
electors  with  royal  prerogatives,  and  even  with 
the  right  to  wear  a  crown.  Spite  of  these  hon- 
ors, and  of  the  influence  which  he  exercised  on 
the  nobles,  the  army,  and  the  people,  Tlacaelel 
remained  the  devoted  servant  of  the  empire 
which  his  talents  had  helped  to  found.  Does 
not  this  conduct  alone  entitle  him  to  the  name 
of  the  Great,  which  his  contemporaries  bestowed 
upon  him  ? 

Axayacatl,  the  sixth  king  of  Mexico,  was  a 
brother  of  the  three  sovereigns  who  had  pre- 
ceded Moteuczoma  on  the  throne.  Immediately 
after  his  election  he  set  out  on  an  expedition 
against  the  kingdom  of  Tehuantepec,  to  capture 
the   prisoners   he   had    to    take   for  the    religious 


80  THE   AZTECS. 

sacrifices  of  his  coronation.  A  victor,  he  en- 
larged his  states  by  the  addition  of  the  territory 
of  the  vanquished,  and  returned  to  his  capital 
laden  with  spoils.  His  reign,  moreover,  like 
that  of  his  predecessor,  was  an  uninterrupted 
series  of  conquests.  He  embellished  the  tem- 
ple of  Huitzilipochtli ;  he  had  his  picture  sculp- 
tured near  that  of  Moteuczoma  on  the  rocks  of 
Chapultepec,  and  new  stones  for  the  sacrifices 
erected. 

Axayacatl,  it  is  said,  made  obligatory  by  a  law 
the  custom  which  required  a  sovereign  to  wage 
victorious  war  before  his  coronation.  At  one 
time,  wounded  in  the  thigh  and  overthrown  in 
single  combat  with  an  Otomite  chief,  he  nearly 
lost  his  life.  Although  permanently  crippled, 
he  continued  to  wage  war.  He  was  belligerent, 
rude,  severe,  and  unbending  in  the  execution  of 
the  laws. 

Having  died  in  1481,  Axayacatl  was  succeeded 
by  his  eldest  brother,  Tizoc  ("the  leg  covered 
with  wounds  "),  who  served  as  a  general  in  the 
army,  and  to  whom  the  aged  Tlacaelel,  who 
died  shortly  after,  gave  his  vote.  The  reign  of 
this  king  was  short,  but  taken  up  with  continual 
wars,  —  he  conquered  no  less  than  fourteen  cities. 
In  the  ethnographic  museum  of  Trocadero  is  a 
cast  of  the  famous  cylindrical  stone,  cuauhxicalli, 
which,  following  the  example  of  his  predecessor, 
he  caused  to  be  erected  in  Mexico,  in  honor  of 
the   sun,  and  on  whose  circumference  bas-reliefs 


TIZOC.  8 1 

represent  the  details  of  the  battles  which  he 
fought.  Tizoc  died  in  i486,  in  the  fifth  year 
of  his  reign,  poisoned  by  two  of  his  feudatory 
magnates,  who  were  afterwards  brought  to  Mexico 
and  executed  in  the  great  square,  in  the  presence 
of  the  allied  kings  and  of  the  nobility. 

A  sovereign  of  great  activity,  Tizoc  had  be- 
gun the  construction  of  a  new  temple  dedicated 
to  Huitzilipochtli,  which  he  intended  should  sur- 
pass in  magnificence  all  those  then  in  existence. 
A  recent  study  of  Dr.  Hamy  on  the  proper 
reading  of  the  chronographic  inscription  of  a 
tablet  of  obsidian,  discovered  near  Mexico  in 
1865,  and  now  in  the  museum  of  Trocadero, 
reveals  an  unexpected  fact.  The  tablet  in  ques- 
tion is  considered  by  the  learned  Americanist 
as  a  monument  commemorative  of  the  greatest 
architectural  work  attempted  by  the  Aztecs,  and 
perhaps  as  the  corner-stone  laid  by  Tizoc  when 
the  foundation  of  the  temple  was  laid.  In  fact, 
this  small  monument  bears  the  date  of  the  ninth 
day  of  the  month  of  flags,  in  the  fourth  year  of 
the  reed  ;  that  is,  according  to  our  calendar,  the 
ninth  of  December,  1483,  —  the  very  day  con- 
secrated to   Huitzilipochtli. 

Tizoc  was  succeeded  by  Ahuitzotl  ("  the  ot- 
ter"), a  brother  of  the  two  preceding  kings,  who 
immediately  took  the  field  to  capture  his  victims. 
The  festivities  on  the  occasion  of  the  coronation 
of  the  new  emperor  were  the  most  magnificent 

that  had  ever  been  seen  ;    and  a  thousand    pris- 

6 


82  THE   AZTECS. 

oners  were  sacrificed.  Immediately  after  this, 
Ahuitzotl  busied  himself  with  the  completion  of 
the  temple  begun  by  his  predecessor ;  and  so 
great  was  the  number  of  workmen  put  upon  it 
that  the  vast  edifice,  comparable  to  the  monu- 
ments of  the  ancient  kings  of  Egypt,  was  fin- 
ished in  four  years.  During  this  time  Ahuitzotl 
continued  to  wage  war;  and  all  the  prisoners 
captured  by  his  soldiers  were  reserved  for  the 
feast  of  the  inauguration  of  the  great  temple. 
When  that  day  came,  the  devout  flocked  from  all 
parts  of  the  empire ;  and  the  number  of  visitors, 
it  is  said,  exceeded  six  millions.  The  festivities 
lasted  four  days,  and  the  prisoners  were  merci- 
lessly massacred.  The  annalists  do  not  agree  as 
to  the  number  of  those  whose  hearts  were  torn 
out ;  none  of  them  estimate  it  at  less  than  fif- 
teen thousand,  and  some  place  it  as  high  as 
sixty   thousand ! 

Ahuitzotl,  as  belligerent  as  his  predecessors, 
was  constantly  at  war.  In  1498,  navigation  on 
the  lake  being  hampered  in  consequence  of  want 
of  rain,  he  conceived  the  idea,  spite  of  the 
representations  made  him,  of  bringing  water 
from  the  Huitzilipocho  spring  by  means  of  a 
canal.  But  a  rainy  year  followed  the  years 
of  drought,  and  the  city  was  inundated.  Sur- 
prised in  his  palace  by  the  rising  waters,  the 
king  in  his  flight  struck  his  forehead  against  a 
door.  He  died  in  1502,  from  the  effects  of  this 
blow,    after    two    years    of    suffering.       By    his 


AHUITZOTL.  83 

conquests  he  had  extended  the  Mexican  empire 
to  about  the  limits  it  has  to-day. 

Besides  his  courage,  Ahuitzotl  possessed  really 
royal  qualities ;  and  his  liberality  won  for  him 
the  love  of  his  subjects.  He  adorned  Mexico 
with  such  a  number  of  handsome  buildings 
that  at  this  time  it  was  undoubtedly  the  most 
beautiful  city  of  the  New  World.  When  he 
received  the  tribute  sent  by  the  provinces, 
Ahuitzotl  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  the  people 
together  and  of  distributing  clothes  and  pro- 
visions among  those  that  seemed  in  need  of 
them.  Officers  and  soldiers  who  had  distin- 
guished themselves  in  war,  and  ministers  and 
employees  of  the  crown  who  had  served  him 
faithfully,  were  rewarded  with  gifts  of  bars  of  gold 
or  silver,  or  with  presents  of  jewels  or  rare  and 
costly  feathers.  Unfortunately,  his  good  quali- 
ties were  obscured  by  lamentable  faults.  He  was 
capricious,  inclined  to  vengeance,  cruel,  and  so 
fond  of  war  that  peace  seemed  odious  to  him. 
Hence  his  name,  in  the  language  of  Spanish- 
Americans,  serves  to  designate  a  man  always 
ready  to  pick  a  quarrel. 

At  the  death  of  Ahuitzotl,  none  of  his  brothers 
was  living.  The  number  of  his  nephews,  how- 
ever, was  large.  The  electors  chose  a  son  of 
Axayacatl,  named  Moteuczoma,  whom  they  char- 
acterized as  Xoyocotzin  ("  the  younger  "),  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  the  first.  This  was  the  mon- 
arch   who    had     to     contend    with     Cortez,    and 


84  THE    AZTECS. 

whom  our  historians  have  accustomed  us  to  call 
Montezuma. 

To  recapitulate  again  :  Although,  as  we  have 
said,  undoubted  data  in  regard  to  the  history  of 
the  first  inhabitants  of  Anahuac  are  wanting  — 
although  the  great  journey  of  the  Aztecs  from 
their  native  country,  Aztlan,  to  their  settlement 
on  Lake  Tezcoco,  presents  a  number  of  obscure, 
contradictory,  and  insoluble  points,  —  there  is 
an  abundance  of  documents,  be«innin^  with  the 
reign  of  Itzacoatl.  We  might  have  length- 
ened this  account  by  quoting  the  speeches  ad- 
dressed to  each  king  at  the  time  of  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  and  the  harangues  of  the  generals 
at  the  moment  of  giving  battle,  and  by  describing 
in  detail  the  combats  and  incessant  struggles  of 
the  cities  among  themselves.  But  what  interest 
can  the  recital  of  uniform  events,  which  follow  one 
another  with  painful  monotony,  and  which  most 
frequently  serve  only  to  demonstrate  the  cruelty 
of  man,  have  for  any  one  except  perhaps  a  Mexi- 
can ?  Hence  it  is  only  in  broad  outline  that  we 
have  thought  it  advisable  to  relate  the  principal 
facts  which  gave  the  Aztecs  supremacy  over  their 
neighbors  ;  and  we  have  avoided  fati^uino:  the 
attention  of  the  reader  with  the  recital  of  facts 
which  not  a  single  anecdote  enlivens.  We  have 
seen  the  civilizing  power  pass  from  the  hands  of 
the  Toltecs  to  the  Chichimecs,  then  to  the  Alcol- 
huas,  and  finally  to  the  Aztecs.  These  nations, 
we  must   not   omit  to  state,  never  rose  above  a 


REVIEW. 


85 


semi-barbarous  condition.  The  priests,  nobles, 
and  soldiers  possessed  all  the  privileges,  and 
sought  to  increase  them  by  reducing  as  large  a 
number  of  men  as  possible  to  servitude.  It  is 
indeed  true  that  by  forming  important  national 
unities  the  conquerors  were  unwittingly  working 
for  the  cause  of  civilization  and  for  the  future  of 
humanity.  But  it  is  idle  to  indulge  in  conjec- 
tures, and  to  attempt  to  say  what  would  have 
become  of  the  great  Aztec  empire  if  it  had  not 
been  overthrown  by  Cortez. 

To  resume :  From  their  humble  beginning, 
which  has  been  justly  compared  with  that  of  the 
Romans,  we  have  seen  the  Aztec  people  rise, 
fall  into  servitude,  and  then  rising:  ao;ain,  arradu- 
ally  overcome  by  their  patience,  energy,  courage, 
and  the  ability  of  their  general-kings,  the  peoples 
by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  The  greater 
part  of  these  peoples,  it  must  not  be  forgotten, 
had  the  same  origin  and  spoke  the  same  language 
as  the  Aztecs.  Indeed,  the  victories  of  the  Mexi- 
cans were  not  obtained  over  foreigners  or  over 
men  of  a  race  different  from  their  own.  These 
victories  reduced  to  unity  the  scattered  members 
of  one  and  the  same  family,  and  from  that  time, 
Itzacoatl  appealed  to  the  great  modern  principle 
of  nationalities  in  justification  of  his  conquests. 
One  thing  is  certain,  —  in  his  eyes,  as  in  the  eyes 
of   all  conquerors,  might  was  right. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Moteuczoma  II.  —  His  Coronation.  —  Ceremonial  of 
his  Court.  —  His  Palaces. — The  Aspect  of  Mexico.- — 
Arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  —  Cuitlahuatzin.  —  Cuauh- 
temotzin.  —  End  of  the  Aztec- Empire. 

THUS  far  we  have  rapidly  passed  over  the 
exploits  and  feats  of  the  Aztec  kings.  We 
shall,  however,  be  less  brief  in  speaking  of  Mo- 
teuczoma II.  Detailing  the  ceremonies  attend- 
ing his  election  and  the  peculiar  features  of  his 
coronation,  and  also  describing  the  etiquette  of 
his  court,  we  shall  give  an  exact  idea  of  Mexican 
civilization  at  a  date  when  Columbus  had  already 
discovered  America,  and  when  Cortez  was  pre- 
paring to  embark,  ignorant  of  the  name  of  the 
country  he  was  soon  to  conquer,  and  not  even 
suspecting  the  immortal  glory  that  fortune  had  in 
store  for  him. 

The  obsequies  of  Ahuitzotl  being  over,  the 
electors  and  the  allied  kings  met  in  the  hall  of 
the  palace  intended  for  great  ceremonies.  In 
the  middle  of  this  hall,  an  immense  brazier 
burned ;  near  it  were  placed  a  censer  filled  with 
copal  resin,  the  royal  insignia,  and  three  pointed 
bones,  one  of  which  had  belonged  to  a  jaguar,  an- 
other   to    a    puma,   and    the    third    to    an    eagle. 


MOTEUCZOMA    II.  87 

Around  the  electors,  at  that  time  twelve  in  num- 
ber, crowded  the  sons  of  the  deceased  kings, 
doubtless  to  solicit  votes.  Moteuczoma  Xocoyot- 
zin,  son  of  Axayacatl,  was  elected  with  but  little 
opposition.  Renowned  for  his  modesty,  and 
greatly  respected  because  of  his  priestly  character, 
this  prince  spoke  little,  and  acted  with  delibera- 
tion ;  his  counsels  had  always  been  of  great 
weight  in  the  royal  -debates. 

As  soon  as  his  name  was  mentioned,  the  new 
sovereign  was  sought  for,  that  he  might  be  con- 
gratulated. But  at  the  first  indication  of  the 
vote,  Moteuczoma  retired  to  a  temple,  declaring 
that  he  was  unworthy  of  the  honor  just  conferred 
upon  him.  Some  of  the  nobles  went  to  inform 
him  of  the  result  of  the  election,  and  found  him, 
a  broom  in  his  hand,  sweeping  a  court.  They 
led  him  back  to  the  palace,  where  the  electors 
proclaimed  him  king. 

The  Cihuacoatl  ("supreme  judge")  again  no- 
tified him  of  his  election.  They  seated  him  on 
the  throne,  and  a  priest  cut  off  his  hair.  They 
then  pierced  the  cartilage  of  his  nose,  for  the 
introduction  of  a  small  stone  cylinder,  called 
"  acapitzactli,"  then  the  lower  lip,  for  the  recep- 
tion of  a  ring,  or  "  tentetl,"  and  they  adorned  his 
ears  with  golden  ear-rings.  At  the  same  time 
they  covered  his  shoulders -with  the  royal  mantle, 
and  clothed  his  feet  with  rich  buskins.  This 
toilet  finished,  the  crown  was  placed  on  his  head, 
and  he  walked  towards  the    brazier.     There  he 


88  THE    AZTECS. 

burned  incense,  in  honor  of  the  gods,  especially 
in  honor  of  the  god  of  fire ;  after  which,  armed 
with  the  pointed  bones,  he  punctured  his  ears  with 
that  of  the  jaguar,  the  fleshy  part  of  the  thigh 
with  that  of  the  puma,  and  the  calves  of  his  legs 
with  the  eagle's  bone,  wounding  himself  deeply 
enough  to  draw  a  little  blood.  After  this  operation 
they  presented  him  with  partridges,  whose  heads 
he  tore  off  to  sprinkle  the  fire  with  their  blood. 
He  was  then  conducted  to  the  temple  of  Huitzili- 
pochtli,  where  he  repeated  the  same  ceremonies. 
At  last,  being  saluted  emperor,  he  seated  himself  on 
the  throne  to  receive  homage  from  his  feudatories, 
and  to  hear  their  addresses  of  congratulation. 

Not  many  days  after  his  investiture  Moteuczo- 
ma  bethought  himself  of  the  victims  he  had  to 
secure  for  the  feast  of  his  coronation ;  and  at  the 
head  of  the  flower  of  his  nobility,  accompanied 
by  his  brothers  and  cousins,  he  marched  against 
the  Otomites,  who  had  just  revolted.  This  war 
was  a  hard  one  and  cost  the  Mexicans  many  of 
their  most  experienced  captains.  Nevertheless, 
the  Emperor,  who  had  fought  bravely,  and  who 
considered  himself  victorious,  brought  back  five 
thousand  prisoners.  The  usual  rejoicings,  with 
an  unwonted  display  of  luxury,  sports,  dances, 
and  illuminations,  then  followed  ;  but  it  was  no- 
ticed that,  at  the  hour  of  the  sacrifices,  the  humble 
Moteuczoma  had  taken  a  position  in  the  midst  of 
the  images  of  the  o:ods. 

The   presents   sent  by   the    provinces   on   this 


MOTEUCZOMA    II.  89 

occasion  were  so  numerous  that  tributaries  from 
all  parts  of  the  empire,  who  appeared  there  now 
for  the  first  time,  were  seen  in  the  streets  of 
Mexico.  All  gifts  received,  as  well  as  the  booty 
taken  on  his  expedition,  were  distributed  by  the 
Emperor  among  the  priests,  the  nobles,  and  the 
plebeians. 

Once  anointed  with  the  balm  set  apart  for  the 
gods,  Moteuczoma  began  his  reign  with  an  act  of 
gratitude  and  justice,  —  giving  the  government  of 
a  province  to  one  of  the  oldest  and  bravest  officers 
of  the  army.  But  belying  his  past  life,  and  the 
promise  afforded  by  this  act  of  wisdom,  he  gave 
evidence  of  the  pride  he  had  up  to  that  time 
concealed  under  the  mask  of  humility.  Before 
his  succession  to  the  throne  all  official  positions 
had  been  given  to  men  of  the  greatest  merit  or 
ability,  without  regard  to  caste.  Deaf  to  the 
remonstrances  that  were  made  to  him,  Moteuc- 
zoma suddenly  declared  that  plebeians  were  tainted 
with  baseness,  and  drove  from  his  palace  all  of 
them  who  were  there  employed.  He  even,  ac- 
cording to  Duran,  condemned  a  large  number  of 
them  to  death.  Wishing  in  future  to  be  served 
only  by  nobles,  he  posed  as  a  god  ;  and  five  or  six 
hundred  great  feudatories,  besides  those  who  lived 
in  the  palace,  were  ordered  to  come  every  morn- 
ing to  assist  at  his  rising.  These  high  dignitaries, 
who  dared  appear  in  his  presence  only  with  their 
feet  bare,  held  themselves  constantly  in  waiting 
in  his  antechambers,  so  that  they  might  be  always 


90 


THE   AZTECS. 


ready  to  receive  his  orders ;  they  were  not  al- 
lowed to  speak  above  a  whisper  for  fear  of 
disturbing  him. 

Moteuczoma  II.  gradually  became  a  true  des- 
pot, a  sultan.  He  had  a  harem  of  a  thousand 
women ;  and  rewarded  the  services  rendered  him 
by  the  gift  of  one  of  these  favorites.  He  enacted 
that  the  nobles  of  the  empire  should  come  each 
in  turn  and  reside  at  his  court  for  three  months, 
and  that  their  sons  or  their  brothers  should  live 
in  Mexico,  so  that  he  might  have  a  pledge  of  their 
fidelity  under  his  thumb. 

His  despotism  appears  still  more  plainly  in  the 
ceremonial  he  introduced  into  his  palace,  where 
no  one  could  present  himself  in  costly  garments, 
for  he  looked  upon  such  display  as  a  want  of  the 
respect  due  to  his  dignity.  Hence,  in  his  palace 
all  the  nobles,  excepting  his  kinsmen,  wore  coarse 
clothes  as  a  sign  of  humility,  and  spoke  to  him 
only  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  and  with  bowed  head. 
He  was  treated  as  "  hueitlatoani  ",  that  is,  lord 
of  lords.  His  words  were  received  as  oracles;  in 
retiring  from  his  presence  all  walked  backwards. 

Moteuczoma  took  his  meals  in  the  hall  in 
which  he  s;ave  his  audiences.  There,  an  im- 
mense  cushion  served  him  for  a  table,  and  he 
seated  himself  on  a  small  bench  provided  with 
a  back.  The  vessels  he  used  were  made  of  clay 
from  Cholullan,  his  table-cloth  was  of  fine  cotton 
carefully  bleached.  None  of  the  utensils  were 
used  by  him  a  second  time ;  after  his  repast,  they 


MOTEUCZOMA    II.  91 

were  distributed  among  his  courtiers.  The  cups 
from  which  he  drank  were  of  gold,  or  of  pearl,  or 
were  carved  out  of  gourds,  artistically  painted. 
He  possessed  golden  vessels  also,  but  he  used 
these  only  in  the  temple. 

A  great  many  dishes  were  prepared  for  each  of 
his  meals.     Cortez  relates  that  they  filled  a  large 

■J  o 

hall,  and  that  birds,  fish,  vegetables,  and  fruits  of 
all  kinds  were  set  before  the  king  every  day. 
Four  hundred  young  nobles,  in  orderly  files, 
brought  the  plates,  set  them  on  the  table  before 
which  the  king  was  seated,  then  retired.  To  pre- 
serve its  heat  each  plate  rested  on  a  chafing-dish, 
—  a  custom  that  has  passed  to  Europe.  The  king 
indicated  with  a  short  pointer  the  dishes  of  which 
he  wished  to  partake,  and  the  others  were  imme- 
diately distributed  among  his  courtiers.  Twenty 
of  his  wives  brought  him  water  wherewith  to  wash 
his  hands,  and  they,  together  with  the  ministers 
and  the  major-domo,  assisted  at  his  repast. 

The  latter,  as  soon  as  the  king  was  seated, 
closed  the  door  of  the  hall  so  that  the  courtiers 
might  not  see  him  eat.  Then  musical  instru- 
ments resounded,  or  jesters  displayed  their  wit. 
The  Emperor  was  very  fond  of  the  latter  enter- 
tainment, which,  he  said,  gave  him  useful  hints. 
After  his  meal  he  smoked  perfumed  tobacco,  which 
his  wives  presented  him  in  a  pipe  of  varnished 
bamboo;  he  frequently  took   a  nap  after  dinner. 

His  siesta  over,  Moteuczoma  gave  audience 
to  his  subjects,  attentively  listening  to  what  they 


92  THE    AZTECS. 

told  him,  and  encouraging  those  who  were  in 
trouble  ;  he  conveyed  his  answers  to  them  by  the 
mouth  of  his  ministers.  After  the  audience,  musi- 
cians came ;  for  he  loved  to  hear  the  exploits  of 
his  ancestors  sung.  When  he  went  out  he  re- 
clined on  a  litter  covered  with  a  magnificent 
canopy,  borne  by  nobles  and  accompanied  by  a 
numerous  retinue.  If  it  happened  that  he  had  to 
walk  they  spread  out  a  carpet,  so  that  he  might 
not  touch  the  ground.  On  his  approach  his  sub- 
jects were  required  to  stop  and  close  their  eyes, 
that  they  might  not  be  dazzled  by  his  majesty. 
The  plebeians  believed  that  lightning  would  strike 
any  one  bold  enough  to  look  the  emperor  in  the 

face. 

The  magnificence  of  the  royal  palaces  and  gar- 
dens was  in  keeping  with  this  pomp.  The  prin- 
cipal residence  of  Moteuczoma,  in  Mexico,  was  a 
vast  stone  edifice,  whose  twenty  doors  opened 
upon  the  great  market-place  and  upon  the  side 
streets.  This  palace  contained  three  courts,  a 
multitude  of  halls,  with  walls  covered  with  slabs 
of  jasper  or  marble,  or  with  paintings,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  small  rooms.  The  roof  of  the 
building  was  of  carved  cedar.  Among  the  halls 
there  was  one  —  according  to  the  testimony  of 
an  eye-witness,  the  anonymous  Conqueror  —  large 
enough  to  contain  three  thousand  people.  The 
same  witness  adds  that  having  gone  through  the 
palace  three  times,  walking  until  he  was  worn 
out  with   fatigue,  he   was,   nevertheless,  unable  to 


MOTEUCZOMA    II. 


93 


see  it  all.  The  oratory,  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
feet  long  and  fifty  broad,  was  adorned  with  golden 
plates  studded  with  precious  stones.  Besides  this 
residence,  the  king  owned  several  others,  in  which 
were  lodged  his  wives,  his  ministers,  his  counsel- 
lors, strangers  of  note,  or  the  kings  who  came  to 
visit  him. 

He  had  established  two  lar^e  menageries  in 
Mexico,  one  for  all  kinds  of  birds,  except  birds  of 
prey,  the  other  for  quadrupeds  and  reptiles.  The 
first  of  these  establishments  was  provided  with  por- 
ticos, surrounding  a  garden  of  magnificent  trees. 
In  this  there  were  ten  ponds,  some  of  which 
were  supplied  with  fresh  water  for  river-birds,  and 
others  with  salt  water  for  sea-birds.  This  aviary 
had  such  a  large  number  of  birds  of  all  kinds  that 
the  Spaniards  believed  it  contained  all  winged 
species.  Each  bird  was  supplied  with  the  food, 
grain,  fruit,  or  insects  which  it  sought  in  the  state 
of  freedom.  Cortez,  in  his  letters  to  Charles  V., 
says  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  fish 
were  daily  required  to  feed  the  aquatic  birds. 
Three  hundred  servants  were  employed  in  col- 
lecting the  eggs  and  looking  after  the  health 
of  these  guests,  which  were  plucked  once  a  year. 
Their  feathers,  which  were  collected  with  care, 
were  used  in  the  mosaic  work,  which  was  long 
the  admiration  of  Europe.  The  menagerie  set 
aside  for  deer,  beasts  of  prey,  and  reptiles,  was 
divided  in  such  a  way  that  the  animals  might 
shelter    themselves    from    the   rain   or  enjoy    the 


94  THE    AZTECS. 

sun.  The  eagles,  pumas,  tigers,  foxes,  etc.,  to 
whom  stags,  rabbits,  and, —  is  it  necessary  to  add  ? 
—  the  remains  of  human  victims  sacrificed  to  the 
gods,  were  given  as  food,  were  lodged  in  holes  or 
wooden  cages.  The  bodies  of  the  Spaniards 
killed  during  the  famous  retreat  of  the  Noche 
triste,  served  for  many  days  as  food  for  these 
carnivora.  The  reptiles,  —  alligators,  serpents, 
iguanas,  basilisks  and  small  snakes,  —  as  well  as 
the  fishes,  had  representatives  in  this  palace. 

Not  content  with  having  brought  together  all 
the  known  animals  of  his  empire,  Moteuczoma 
also  made  a  collection  of  men,  who,  on  account  of 
the  color  of  their  hair,  their  skin,  or  of  some  rare 
deformity,  might  be  regarded  as  curiosities.  Be- 
sides this,  he  had  all  plants  remarkable  for  the 
beauty  of  their  flowers  or  the  utility  of  their 
medicinal  properties  cultivated  in  the  royal  gar- 
dens. An  island  in  Lake  Tezcoco,  to-day  known 
as  Penon,  served  him  as  a  hunting-park.  Of  all 
that  we  have  just  described  scarcely  anything 
remains  now  but  the  park  of  Chapultepec ;  re- 
venge and  superstition  have  annihilated  these 
marvels,  the  existence  of  which,  as  our  princi- 
pal guide,  Clavigero,  remarks,  is  known  to  us 
only  through  the  writings  of  those  who  destroyed 
them. 

The  palaces  and  gardens  were  carefully  kept. 
Moteuczoma  was  fond  of  order  and  neatness. 
He  bathed  each  morning,  and  changed  his  clothes 
four  times   a  day.     Those  that   he    took   off  he 


MOTEUCZOMA    II. 


95 


never  wore  again  ;  they  were  given  as  a  reward 
to  the  nobles  or  soldiers  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  war.  By  his  orders  more  than  a 
thousand  men  were  employed  to  sweep  the  city 
of  Mexico  daily. 

This  despot,  however,  was  not  wanting  in  good 
qualities  in  the  eyes  of  his  people.  He  had  a  fer- 
vent zeal  for  religion.  He  caused  a  number  of 
temples  to  be  built  for  the  idols,  to  whom  he  of- 
fered frequent  sacrifices.  He  was  always  faithful 
in  observing  the  established  rites  and  ceremonies  ; 
he  had  a  firm  belief  in  the  oracles.  He  carefully 
attended  to  the  execution  of  his  orders  and  of  the 
laws,  showing  himself  inexorable  towards  those 
who  transgressed  them.  It  often  happened  that 
he  had  gifts  secretly  offered  to  the  judges,  and 
if  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  bribed,  he 
punished  them  without  pity,  even  when  they 
belonged  to  the  highest  nobility. 

An  implacable  enemy  of  idleness,  he  endeav- 
ored to  keep  his  subjects  always  busy.  He  com- 
pelled his  soldiers  to  practise  military  tactics  con- 
tinually, interested  himself  in  agriculture,  and 
also  caused  large  buildings  to  be  constructed  to 
furnish  labor  to  workmen  of  every  trade.  He 
relentlessly  pursued  beggars,  and  imposed  on 
them  a  fine  consisting  of  the  insects  engendered 
by  uncleanness,  the  habitual  companion  of  abject 
poverty.  His  despotism,  the  enormous  tributes 
he  exacted,  his  pride,  the  severity  with  which  he 
punished  the  least  fault,  made  him  hated  on  the 


96  THE   AZTECS. 

one  hand,  and  on  the  other,  he  attached  his  sub- 
jects to  him  by  helping  the  unfortunate,  and  en- 
riching those  who  served  him.  He  was  the  first 
to  think  of  establishing  an  asylum  for  citizens 
who,  having  served  the  country  either  in  pub- 
lic offices  or  in  the  army,  might  be  in  need  of 
help  on  account  of  their  limited  means,  their 
wounds,  or  their  infirmities.  He  gave  them 
the  city  of  Colhuacan,  where  they  were  lodged, 
clothed,  fed,  and  cared  for  at  the  expense  of  the 
state. 

Another  subject  of  his  solicitude  was  the  em- 
bellishment of  Mexico.  At  this  period,  the  city 
—  of  which  we  give  a  facsimile  of  the  plan  en- 
graved shortly  after  the  conquest,  for  which  we 
are  under  obligations  to  Dr.  Hamy  —  could  be 
approached  only  by  four  causeways,  that  crossed 
the  lake.  The  southern  one,  called  Iztapalapan, 
was  seven  miles  long;  the  northern  or  Tepeja- 
cac  causeway  measured  three ;  the  causeway  of 
Tlacopan  about  two;  and  the  fourth,  of  equal 
length,  served  as  a  passage  to  the  double  aque- 
duct of  Chapultepec.  All  these  roads  were 
broad  enough  to  allow  ten  men  on  horseback  to 
pass  along  abreast. 

Covering  a  great  deal  of  ground,  and  thickly 
peopled,  Mexico  measured  nine  miles  in  circum- 
ference, —  its  important  suburbs  not  included. 
The  "  anonymous  Conqueror,"  Gomara,  Herrera, 
and  many  other  historians  state  that  the  number 
of  houses  in   the  city  exceeded  sixty  thousand ; 


MOTEUCZOMA    II. 


97 


but  they  are  silent  in   regard  to  the  number  of 
its  inhabitants. 

Mexico,  as  we  have  seen,  was  divided  into  four 
large  districts,  subdivided  into  a  multitude  of 
smaller  ones.  The  city  was  surrounded  with 
dikes  and  sluices,  intended,  according  to  circum- 
stances, to  hold  the  waters  or  to  carry  them 
off.  A  canal  ran  along  almost  every  street, 
which  could  be  travelled  either  in  boat  or  on 
foot ;  this  was  of  great  assistance  to  commerce, 
and  of  great  help  against  an  enemy.  The  prin- 
cipal streets  were  straight,  wide,  and  provided 
with  sidewalks ;  the  second-class  roads  consisted 
of  simple  canals  bordered  by  houses,  trees,  and 
even  quays  for  the  unloading  of  merchandise. 

Besides  palaces  and  temples,  Mexico  possessed 
a  large  number  of  edifices  belonging  to  individ- 
uals. The  houses  —  those  of  the  poor  excepted 
—  were  surmounted  by  terraces  with  embattled 
parapets,  and  sometimes  by  towers.  In  case  of 
need,  these  dwellings  might  be  converted  into 
real  fortresses,  —  as  Cortez  discovered  to  his 
sorrow. 

Without  counting  the  principal  market,  which 
was  held  in  the  celebrated  square  of  Tlatelolco, 
many  others,  in  which  provisions  were  sold,  ex- 
isted in  the  various  districts.  The  temples  were 
surrounded  with  gardens  ornamented  with  basins 
and  fountains.  All  buildings,  as  a  police  meas- 
ure, were  carefully  whitewashed  and  polished. 
According  to  the  Spaniards,  the  terraces  with  their 

7 


98  THE   AZTECS. 

embattled  parapets,  the  towers  of  the  temples, 
the  large  trees  of  the  gardens,  especially  when 
observed  from  the  top  of  the  great  temple,  —  a 
height  from  which  the  lake  and  the  villages 
scattered  on  its  borders  could  be  seen,  —  pre- 
sented one  of  the  most  picturesque  spectacles 
imaginable. 

The  streets  of  Mexico  were  sprinkled  morning 
and  evening,  to  lay  the  dust.  At  nightfall  bra- 
ziers were  lighted  at  all  points  of  the  city,  and 
were  kept  burning  until  daybreak.  No  one  ex- 
cept soldiers  on  guard  was  allowed  to  go  about 
armed  in  the  streets,  which  were  continually 
patrolled  by  watchmen  ;  hence  the  city  enjoyed 
absolute  tranquillity.  We  may  add  that  from 
hour  to  hour  priests  stationed  on  the  towers  of 
the  temples  measured  the  flight  of  time  by  ob- 
serving the  stars,  and  announced  the  hour  by 
blowing  through  conch-shells. 

But  let  us  return  to  Moteuczoma.  After  his 
expedition  against  the  Atlexcas,  he  again  re- 
duced to  obedience  the  provinces  of  Tlachqui- 
auhco  and  Achiotlan,  which  had  revolted.  He 
soon  undertook  a  war  in  which  he  was  less  for- 
tunate, —  one  which  was  destined  to  have  un- 
expected  consequences. 

Of  all  the  provinces  formed  into  states  which 
surrounded  Mexico,  the  little  republic  of  Tlaxcala 
alone  preserved  itself  intact.  Some  historians 
claim,  not  without  reason,  that  the  Mexican 
kings    always    spared    this    republic    because    it 


ARRIVAL   OF   CORTEZ.  99 

allowed  them  to  exercise  their  troops  and  to  pro- 
cure prisoners  necessary  for  the  sacrifices.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  the  Tlaxcaltecs  were  brave, 
numerous,  and  very  jealous  of   their  liberty. 

Seeing  Moteuczoma  preparing  to  invade  their 
country,  they  called  all  the  malcontents  to  their 
aid,  and  accepted  the  barbarous  Otomites  as 
allies.  A  Mexican  army,  commanded  by  a  son 
of  the  king,  was  entirely  defeated,  and  the  young 
prince  killed.  Moteuczoma  was  preparing  to 
march  against  the  enemy,  when  reports  of  the 
appearance  of  the  Spaniards  began  to  circulate. 
Cortez  arrived  just  in  time.  In  the  warlike 
Tlaxcaltecs,  ready  to  fight  to  defend  their  inde- 
pendence, he  found  the  auxiliaries  he  needed, 
considering  the  small  number  of  his  own  soldiers, 
to  conquer  the  valiant  troops  of  Moteuczoma. 

It  is  possible  to  imagine  the  emotion  caused 
by  the  surprising  news  of  the  presence  on  the 
snores  of  the  Atlantic  of  floating  palaces,  man- 
aged by  bearded  men  with  white  skins,  who  seemed 
to  control  the  thunder,  and  who  doubled  their  stat- 
ure by  getting  upon  animals  of  monstrous  shape 
and  size,  —  horses.  Ancient  traditions  prophe- 
sied that  gods  with  pale  faces,  at  whose  head 
Ouetzacoatl  —  the  old  legislator  of  Anahuac  — 
would  march,  would  some  day  come  from  the 
East;  and  the  Mexicans  believed  that  this  day 
had  arrived,  —  especially,  as  recent  celestial  and 
terrestrial  phenomena  had  disquieted  their  minds. 
Soon  convinced,  however,  that  they  had    to  deal 


lOO  THE   AZTECS. 

with  men,  and  not  with  supernatural  beings,  they 
began  a  heroic  struggle  against  the  invaders, 
which,  but  for  the  weakness  of  their  king,  would 
probably  have  been  crowned  with  victory.  Ener- 
vated by  luxury  and  excess,  Moteuczoma  was  no 
longer  the  brave  captain  of  the  past.  But  it  is 
not  for  us  to  relate  these  facts,  which  belong  to 
modern  history.  We  shall,  however,  complete 
the  chronology  of  the  Aztec  kings  in  a  few  lines. 

Moteuczoma  died  mysteriously,  June  30,  1520, 
from  the  effects  of  a  blow  from  a  stone.  Almost 
the  day  after  his  death,  his  subjects  succeeded  in 
vanquishing  Cortez  and  driving  him  from  Mex- 
ico;  they  followed  him  as  far  as  the  frontier 
of  Tlaxcala.  They  then  chose  Cuitlahuatzin,  a 
brother  of  the  deceased,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  army,  for  king. 

The  new  sovereign  —  a  wise  and  very  capable 
man,  as  even  his  enemies  admit  —  immediately 
began  to  repair  the  fortifications  of  Mexico.  He 
called  the  provinces  to  his  aid,  and  tried  to  win 
over  the  Tlaxcaltecs,  —  convincing  them  that  the 
Spaniards  were  men,  and  not  demi-gods.  Ever 
defeated,  but  always  fighting,  he  died  suddenly  of 
smallpox,  which,  brought  to  Mexico  by  a  negro 
belonging  to  Cortez's  suite,  caused  terrible  rav- 
ages  at  this  time  among  the  Indians.  Cuitla- 
huatzin ("  the  eagle  ")  was  succeeded  by  Cuauh- 
temotzin,  a  son  of   Ahuitzotl. 

The  eleventh  and  last  king  of   Mexico  —  the 
valiant   Cuauhtcmotzin   ("  descending   eagle  ")  — 


CUAUHTEMOTZIN.  IOI 

defended  his  capital  against  Cortez  with  energy. 
Vanquished  after  sixty  days  of  combat,  he  be- 
came the  prisoner  of  the  Spanish  general.  We 
know  that  the  latter,  wishing  to  wrest  from  him 
the  secret  of  the  place  where  he  had  concealed 
the  treasures  of  the  crown,  smeared  his  feet  with 
oil,  and  then  had  him  hung  above  a  brazier. 
The  heroic  reply  of  the  last  Aztec  king  to  one 
of  his  lieutenants,  who,  subjected  to  the  same 
punishment,  was  complaining  of  his  lot,  is  well 
known  :  "  And  I,"  said  the  sovereign,  —  "  per- 
chance I  am  on  a  bed  of  roses  ? v  Cortez  or- 
dered the  torture  to  be  stopped,  and  then  tried 
to  gain  the  good-will  of  his  victim,  whom  the 
Mexicans  still  regarded  as  king.  Later,  accused 
of  conspiracy,  Cuauhtemotzin,  who  had  been  left 
a  cripple,  was  hanged  by  order  of  his  conqueror. 
The  Aztec  empire,  so  flourishing,  did  not, 
therefore,  succumb  solely  —  as  we  have  already 
said  —  before  the  courage  of  the  handful  of  sol- 
diers  who  accompanied  Cortez,  nor.  even  before 
the  crushing  superiority  of  their  arms  ;  it  per- 
ished the  victim  of  the  peoples  it  had  conquered 
or  subjugated,  and  who,  following  the  example  of 
the  Tlaxcaltecs,  assisted  the  invaders  with  their 
courage  and  numbers.  The  glory  of  Cortez,  so 
ready  to  profit  by  these  hates  and  feuds,  is 
not  at  all  lessened  bv  the  demonstration  of  this 
fact;  it  shows  him  to  have  been,  on  the  con- 
trary, an  astute  politician  as  well  as  a  valiant 
soldier. 


102  THE    AZTECS. 

Here  ends  the  most  arid  part  of  the  task  we 
have  undertaken,  and  the  dryness  of  which  we 
have,  perhaps  in  vain,  attempted  to  lessen.  From 
their  very  nature,  the  documents  which  tell  the 
history  of  the  Aztecs,  that  is,  the  ideographic 
paintings,  do  not  and  cannot  present  us  with  any 
of  those  pleasing  tales,  or  those  brilliant,  heroic, 
or  profound  sayings  which,  under  so  many  dif- 
ferent aspects,  give  a  glimpse  of  the  seductive 
genius  of  the  Greeks.  Besides,  women  rarely 
appear  in  these  annals.  Does  this  indicate  that, 
among  the  Aztecs,  gravity  of  character,  severity 
of  manners,  and,  above  all,  the  inferior  condition 
of  women,  prevented  them  from  having  any  share 
in  public  life  ?  We  believe  not.  Among  the 
Mexicans,  as  among  all  the  nations  of  the  an- 
cient world,  woman,  with  her  grace,  her  beauty, 
her  delicacy,  and  passionate  nature,  must  have 
played  her  usual  part  of  corruption  and  civiliza- 
tion. But  the  imperfection  of  ideographic  writ- 
ing made  it  impossible  to  record  any  but  the 
great  facts  of  war,  politics,  or  religion.  More- 
over, the  priests  dictated  or  wrote  these  annals ; 
and  these  sanguinary  ascetics  troubled  them- 
selves little  with  the  amorous  weaknesses  of  men. 
From  their  hands  the  task  of  recording  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  of  Anahuac  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Catholic  missionaries,  and  the  latter, 
among  the  tales  that  were  related  to  them,  nat- 
urally suppressed  those  of  which  women  were 
the  principal  characters;  hence  the  daughters  of 


END    OF    THE    AZTEC    EMPIRE.  103 

Eve  have,  so  to  speak,  no  history  in  the  past  of 
the  New  World. 

We  shall  now  treat  of  the  religion,  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  arts  cultivated  by  the  Aztecs.  In 
these  new  studies  the  barrenness  of  the  subject 
will  possibly  be  atoned  for  by  the  curiosity  which 
cannot  fail  to  be  aroused  by  strange  modes  of 
action,  often  the  very  opposite  of  our  own,  and 
always  very  different  from  those  of  the  ancient 
peoples  of  whom  we  generally  read.  Besides, 
the  description  of  their  political  and  private  eth- 
ics, their  customs  and  laws,  gives  the  clearest 
idea  of  the  intelligence,  the  dignity,  and  the  wis- 
dom, no  less  than  of  the  sanguinary  aberrations 
of  the  Aztec  people.  We  have  already  learned 
enough  of  their  race,  too  often  confounded  with 
that  of  the  heroes  of  Fenimore  Cooper,  to  com- 
prehend that  they  could  do  something  besides 
follow  a  trail,  chase  a  buffalo  (an  animal  unknown 
in  the  country  subjugated  by  the  Aztecs),  or 
smoke  the  calumet,  whose  name  and  use  was 
unknown  to  them. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Cosmogony.  —  The  Four  Ages  of  the  Universe.  —  Aztec 
Mythology.  —  Teotl.  —The  Soul.— The  Deluge. — The 
Gods. 

BEFORE  approaching  the  particular  mythol- 
ogy of  the  Aztecs,  it  seems  necessary  to 
cast  a  rapid  glance  over  the  general  beliefs  of 
the  Nahuatlacs  in  regard  to  the  creation  of  the 
universe  and  of  man.  The  reader  is  about  to 
enter  the  regions  of  pure  fable,  and  to  hear  tales 
that  are  sometimes  childish  ;  but  these  earliest 
ideas  of  primitive  peoples  on  their  origin  and  the 
origin  of  thing's  are  never  without  instruction ; 
distant,  dying,  distorted  echoes  of  what  might 
have  been,  they  none  the  less  enlighten  the  mind 
with  unexpected  flashes,  and  give  us  glimpses  of 
truth. 

According  to  the  Nahuatlacs,  there  existed, 
before  the  creation  of  the  universe,  a  heaven,  in- 
habited by  Tonacatecuhtli  and  his  wife  Tonacaci- 
huatl,  who  in  time  procreated  four  sons.  The 
skin  of  the  oldest,  Tlatlauhquitezcatlipoca,  was 
red;  that  of  the  second,  Yayauhqui,  black,  and 
his  instincts  were  evil ;  that  of  the  third,  Ouetza- 
coatl,  was  white;  while  the  youngest,  Huitzilipoch- 
tli,  was  a  mere  skeleton  covered  with  a  yellow  skin. 


COSMOGONY. 


!05 


After  six  hundred  years  of  idleness  the  gods 
resolved  to  act.  They  named  Quetzacoatl  and 
Huitzilipochtli  as  executors  of  their  will ;  these 
thereupon  created  fire,  and  then  a  demi-sun. 
They  afterwards  created  a  man,  Oxomoco,  and 
a  woman,  Cipactonatl,  whom  they  commanded 
to  cultivate  the  ground  with  care.  Cipactonatl, 
who  was  also  required  to  spin  and  weave,  was 
endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophecy.  As  a  reward 
for  her  oracles  she  was  given  grains  of  maize  to 
serve  as  food  for  her  descendants.  The  cods 
then  made  Mictlanteuctli  and  his  companion, 
Mictlancihuatl,  whom  they  appointed  rulers  of 
the  infernal  regions.  This  done,  they  divided 
time  into  clays,  months,  and  years. 

Resuming  their  work,  they  created  a  first 
heaven,  inhabited  by  two  stars,  one  male,  the 
other  female ;  then  a  second  which  they  peopled 
with  Tetzahuacihuatl  ("  women  skeletons "),  in- 
tended to  devour  human  beings  when  the  end 
of  the  world  came.  In  the  third  heaven  they 
placed  four  hundred  men,  yellow,  black,  white, 
blue,  and  red.  The  fourth  heaven  served  as  a 
residence  for  birds,  which  thence  descended  to 
the  earth  ;  in  the  fifth,  which  was  peopled  with 
fiery  serpents,  comets  and  falling  stars  had  their 
origin.  The  sixtli  was  the  empire  of  the  wind, 
the  seventh  that  of  dust,  and  the  eighth  the  abode 
of  the  cods.  It  was  not  known  what  existed  be- 
tween  this  one  and  the  thirteenth,  the  residence 
of  the  immutable  Tonacatecuhtli. 


106  THE   AZTECS. 

In  this  creation,  water  received  a  special  organ- 
ization ;  for  the  gods  met  to  form  Tlalocaltecuhtli 
and  his  wife  Chalchiutlicue  who  became  masters 
of  the  liquid  element.  In  the  dwelling  inhabited 
by  these  two  were  four  pools  filled  with  different 
waters.  The  water  of  the  first  pool  helped  ger- 
mination, that  of  the  second  withered  the  seed, 
the  water  of  the  third  froze  them,  and  that  of  the 
fourth  dried  them.  Tlaloc,  in  his  turn,  created 
a  multitude  of  small  ministers  charged  with  the 
execution  of  his  orders.  Furnished  with  an  am- 
phora and  armed  with  a  wand,  these  pygmies 
carried  the  water  where  the  god  directed  them, 
and  sprinkled  it  as  rain.  Thunder  was  produced 
whenever  one  of  them  broke  his  jar,  and  the 
lightning  which  struck  men  was  nothing  but  a 
fragment  of  the  shattered  vessel.  In  the  midst 
of  the  waters  a  great  fish,  called  Cipactli,  charged 
with  sustaining  and  directing  the  earth,  had  been 
created. 

The  first  woman  bore  a  son ;  as  he  had  no 
companion,  the  gods  made  him  one  out  of  a  hair. 
The  demi-sun  illuminated  the  world  imperfectly; 
hence  Tezcatlipoca  undertook  the  task  of  fash- 
ioning a  complete  star.  The  Nahuatlacs  believe 
that  the  sun  and  moon  wandered  in  space.  The 
sun  —  a  curious  detail  —  traversed  half  the  space 
open  before  him,  and  then  retreated.  His  image 
in  the  west  was  only  his  reflection.  Lastly  the 
four  gods  created  the  giants,  and  then  Huitzili- 
pochtli's  bones  took  on  a  covering  of  flesh. 


COSMOGONY. 


IO7 


Discord  broke  out  amonaf'  the  creators.  Ouet- 
zacoatl,  with  a  blow  of  his  stick,  precipitated 
Tezcatlipoca  into  the  water,  where  he  was  trans- 
formed into  a  tiger,  and  took  his  brother's  place 
as  sun.  After  a  period  of  more  than  six  hundred 
years,  the  great  tiger  Tezcatlipoca  gave  Ouetza- 
coatl  a  blow  with  his  paw,  and  precipitated  him 
in  turn  from  the  heavens.  The  fall  of  the  eod 
produced  such  a  wind  that  almost  all  mankind 
perished ;  those  who  survived  were  transformed 
into  monkeys. 

The  quarrels  of  the  gods  took  long  to  subside. 
Tezcatlipoca  rained  fire  over  the  earth,  Chalchi- 
utlicue  flooded  it,  and  then  it  was  necessary  to  re- 
people  it.  Whereupon  Camaxtle-Huitzilipochtli, 
striking  a  rock  with  his  stick,  caused  the  Chichi- 
mec-Otomites,  who  had  peopled  the  earth  before 
the  Aztecs,  to  come  forth. 

Let  us  pause  here ;  nevertheless,  as  Orozco 
has  judiciously  remarked,  these  fables,  absurd  as 
they  appear,  contain  astronomical,  religious,  and 
social  myths.  They  show  us  the  ideas  of  the  peo- 
ples of  Anahuac  on  the  creation  of  the  earth,  and 
the  relations  which  they  imagined  existed  between 
it  and  the  heavens.  Like  many  other  peoples,  the 
Nahuatlacas  were  convinced  that  the  conflict  of 
the  four  elements,  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water,  had 
caused  great  cataclysms.  In  their  fables  we  sec 
the  first  intimation  of  the  unity  of  God.  Astron- 
omy is  originated;  the  human  races  with  their 
typical   colors   are   already   classified.      Domestic 


I08  THE   AZTECS. 

arts  appear  with  the  maize  given  as  a  dowry  to 
the  first  woman.  In  place  of  the  Atlas  of  the 
Greeks,  the  columns  of  the  Vedas,  the  elephants 
of  the  Hindoos,  it  is  a  whale  that  supports  the 
world ;  but  what  a  curious  analogy !  At  last  a 
nation  appears  ;  the  Chichimecs  rise  up  under 
the  wand  of  a  god  striking  a  rock,  and  hu- 
manity springs  into  existence. 

Now  let  us  approach  the  special  cosmogony, 
and  afterwards  the  mythology,  of  the  people  whose 
past  we  are  endeavoring  to  reconstruct. 

The  Aztec  cosmogony,  as  well  as  their  mythol- 
ogy, like  that  of  all  nations,  is  evidently  primitive 
history  altered  by  oral  tradition,  transformed  by 
the  imagination  and  symbolized.  The  gods  of 
the  Mexicans,  like  those  of  the  Greeks,  were 
great  men,  who  were  afterwards  gradually  deified. 
Thus,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  famous  god  of  the 
air,  Ouetzacoatl,  had  been  a  lawgiver ;  and  Huit- 
zilipochtli,  the  sanguinary  Mars,  who  had  those 
strangled  on  the  altar  whom  lie  spared  in  battle, 
had  been  a  famous  warrior.  A  writer  who  should 
now  endeavor  to  restore  these  figures  of  the  past 
to  historic  truth  would  lose  himself  in  hypotheses; 
therefore  we  shall  not  attempt  it. 

According  to  the  ideographic  paintings  pre- 
served at  Rome,  and  known  as  the  "  Collection  of 
the  Vatican,"  the  Aztecs  believed  that  four  suns, 
successively  created  by  the  will  of  a  god,  had 
illuminated  the  earth.  The  first  of  these  stars, 
Atonathiu,  or  "sun  of  water,"  was  afterwards  ex- 


COSMOGONY. 


IO9 


tiuguished,  whereupon  a  deluge  was  produced. 
The  second,  Ehecatonathiu,  when  he  was  dying, 
let  loose  a  wind  which  nothing  could  withstand. 
The  third,  Tletonathiu,  destroyed  the  earth  by  fire, 
and  finally,  the  fourth,  Tlatonathiu,  by  his  creation 
produced  the  state  of  things  we  now  see.  Let 
us  remark  that  the  order  in  which  these  suns  ap- 
peared has  often  been  inverted,  accordingly  as 
the  manuscripts  consulted  have  been  read  from 
left  to  right  or  from  right  to  left. 

To  resume :  According  to  the  Aztecs,  who, 
however,  borrowed  this  cosmogony  from  the  peo- 
ples whom  they  had  replaced  in  Anahuac,  the 
human  race  had  been  annihilated  at  three  differ- 
ent times,  and  the  earth  repeopled  as  often  by 
couples  who  had  escaped  from  the  catastrophes. 
According  to  the  approximate  calculation  of  the 
epochs  assigned  to  each  of  these  destructions, 
our  globe,  flooded,  devastated  by  the  wind,  then 
burned,  would  be  about  twenty  thousand  years 
old. 

Although  in  a  rather  imperfect  way,  the  Aztecs 
had  the  idea  of  a  supreme  being,  independent 
and  absolute.  As  they  considered  him  invisible 
they  never  attempted  to  represent  him  by  images  ; 
they  designated  him  by  the  generic  name  of 
Teotl  ("  God  ").  This  word,  which  resembles  the 
Theos  of  the  Greeks  even  more  in  meaning  than 
in  pronunciation,  has  caused  learned  discussions 
in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  people  of  the 
New  World.      It   is,   however,    merely   a   curious 


IIO  THE   AZTECS. 

coincidence,  from    which    no    inference    can    be 
drawn. 

To  paint  the  greatness  of  this  supreme  God, 
the  Aztecs  used  the  most  expressive  epithets. 
Thus  they  called  him  Ipalnemoani  ("  he  who 
gives  us  life"),  or  Tloque-nahuaque  ("he  who 
embraces  everything ").  But  the  knowledge  of 
this  supreme  divinity  disappeared  before  a  multi- 
tude of  secondary  gods,  engendered  by  supersti- 
tion. Let  us  observe  that  an  evil  spirit,  named 
Tlacatecolotl  ("  the  reasoning  owl  "),  the  enemy 
of  the  human  race,  was  opposed  to  Teotl.  In 
the  beliefs  of  the  Aztecs,  this  spirit  allowed  him- 
self to  be  seen  by  men  only  to  terrify  them  or  do 
them  some  injury;  he  filled  the  place  of  the 
Satan  of  the  Christians. 

The  Aztecs,  like  the  other  nations  of  Anahuac 
on  the  way  towards  civilization,  believed  in  the 
existence  of  the  soul  and  regarded  it  as  immortal. 
However,  as  is  shown  by  their  funeral  rites,  they 
accorded  the  same  attribute  of  immortality  to  the 
principle  which  animates  all  living  beings.  In 
their  belief  three  principal  places  served  as  a 
refuge  for  souls  separated  from  the  bodies  they 
had  inhabited.  The  soul  of  the  soldier  killed  in 
battle,  that  of  the  prisoner  sacrificed  by  the  ene- 
my, and  that  of  the  woman  who  died  in  the  pains 
of  childbirth,  were  transported  to  the  dwelling  of 
the  sun,  to  there  enjoy  a  delightful  existence. 
Each  morning  these  souls  celebrated  the  rising  of 
the   star  by  hymns,  dances,  and  concerts ;  they 


TRANSMIGRATION.  Ill 

accompanied  it  as  far  as  the  zenith.  Then  souls 
of  women  having  come  to  meet  him,  in  turn 
escorted  the  god  until  his  setting  with  the  same 
demonstrations  of  joy.  After  four  years  of  this 
"  glorious "  life,  the  souls  animated  the  clouds, 
as  birds,  with  harmonious  voices  and  brilliant 
plumage ;  free  to  rise  in  the  depths  of  heaven  or 
to  descend  to  the  earth  to  sing  or  to  taste  the 
nectar  of  the  flowers.  These  last  privileges  the 
Tlaxcaltecs  accorded  only  to  the  souls  of  no- 
bles, which,  besides  animating  the  bodies  of 
richly-plumed  singing-birds,  vivified  those  also  of 
quadrupeds  endowed  with  generous  instincts.  As 
to  the  souls  of  plebeians,  they  sought  refuge  in 
the  bodies  of  beetles  or  other  animals  of  low 
organization.  The  Pythagorean  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration, therefore,  had  partisans  in  the  New 
World  in  the  sixth  century. 

The  souls  of  those  who  were  killed  by  light- 
ning, drowned,  or  who  died  in  consequence 
of  tumors,  dropsy,  wounds,  etc.,  as  well  as  the 
souls  of  children  sacrificed  to  Tlaloc,  god  of 
the  waters,  took  their  flight  to  a  cool  and  agree- 
able place  named  Tlalocan,  where  they  enjoyed 
varied  pleasures  and  were  fed  on  delicious  dishes. 
In  the  heart  of  the  great  temple  of  Mexico  there 
was  a  place  reserved  in  which,  on  a  certain  day  of 
the  year,  all  the  souls  of  children  met.  Finally, 
a  hell,  called  Mictlan,  served  as  a  residence 
for  the  god  Mictlanteuctli  and  for  his  substitute, 
the  goddess  Mictlancihuatl.     In  this  hell,  situated 


I  12  THE   AZTECS. 

in  the  centre  of  the  earth,  the  souls  underwent 
but  one  pain,  —  terrible  for  people  accustomed  to 
the  splendors  of  the  tropical  sun,  —  that  of  liv- 
ing in  darkness. 

The  Aztecs  preserved  traditions  regarding  the 
creation  of  the  world,  a  universal  flood,  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues,  and  the  dispersion  of  men  over 
the  surface  of  the  globe ;  facts  represented  in  a 
great  number  of  their  hieroglyphic  paintings. 
They  related  that  the  first  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  having  been  drowned  by  incessant  rains,  a 
single  man,  named  Coxcox,  and  a  woman  called 
Teocipatli,  had  been  able,  like  Noah,  to  save  them- 
selves in  a  boat,  and  that  they  had  landed  near 
the  mountain  of  Colhuacan.  The  two  fugitives 
afterwards  had  many  children,  all  of  whom  were 
born  dumb,  and  who  remained  so,  until  one  day, 
a  dove  from  the  top  of  a  tree  taught  each  of  them 
a  different  language. 

Next  to  Teotl,  the  principal  god  of  the  Aztecs 
was  called  Tezcatlipoca  ("  shining  mirror");  his 
images  always  represented  him  holding  one  of 
these  articles  in  his  hands.  He  was  also  called 
"  soul  of  the  world,"  for  he  was  regarded  as  the 
creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  as  the  master  of  all 
things,  as  Providence.  He  was  personified  un- 
der the  features  of  a  young  man  ;  for  time  had  no 
effect  on  him,  and  for  this  reason  he  was  called 
Telpuctli.  He  was  the  god  who  rewarded  the 
just,  and  who  punished  evil-doers  by  afflicting 
them  with  disease.     Under  the  name   of  Necoc- 


TEZCATLIPOCA. 


1*3 


Yaotl  ("  sower  of  discord  "),  he  went  about  among 
men  and  induced  them  to  destroy  one  another. 
At  the  corners  of  streets  in  cities,  stone  seats 
ornamented  with  plants  existed,  intended  to  serve 
him  as  a  place  of  rest,  seats  on  which  it  was  for- 
bidden to  sit.  He  was  said  to  have  descended 
from  heaven  by  means  of  a  spider's  thread.  On 
his  arrival  upon  earth  he  had  fought  with 
Ouetzacoatl,  a  high-priest  of  the  kingdom  of 
Tollan,  —  who  was  himself  later  placed  among 
the  gods,  —  and  had  pursued  and  driven  him  from 
Anahuac. 

The  principal  image  of  Tezcatlipoca  (fig.  7), 
richly  decorated,  was  made  of  teotetl  ("divine 
stone  "),  a  kind  of  brilliant  black  marble.  His  ears 
were  ornamented  with  golden  rings,  and  from  his 
lower  lip  hung  a  tube  of  crystal,  enclosing  a  green 
or  blue  feather,  simulating  a  precious  stone.  His 
hair  was  bound  with  a  gold  cord,  to  which  hung 
an  ear  of  the  same  metal,  an  emblem  of  the 
prayer  of  the  afflicted.  His  breast  was  covered 
with  massive  gold,  and  his  arms  bore  bracelets 
of  the  same  metal.  An  emerald  represented  his 
navel,  and  in  his  left  hand  he  held  a  golden  fan 
ornamented  with  many-colored  feathers  in  the 
form  of  a  mirror,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  saw 
what  was  passing  on  the  earth.  At  times,  to 
symbolize  his  justice,  he  was  represented  seated 
on  a  bench,  wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  red  cloth,  on 
which  were  embroidered  skulls  and  human  bones. 
On    these    occasions    he    held    a    shield  and    four 


114 


THE    AZTECS. 


arrows  in  his  left  hand,  while  his  right  hand  was 
raised  in  the  act  of  throwing  a  dart.  His  entire 
body  was  painted  black,  and  his  head  was  crowned 
with  partridge  feathers. 


Fig.  7.  —  Tezcatlii'oca.     Tkkra-cotta    found  in  Naiiuai.ac   hy  M. 
Charnay.     (Museum  ov  TROCADERO.) 

As  a  curiosity,  we  give  a  prayer  that  was 
addressed  to  Tezcatlipoca  by  his  devotees,  and 
which   seems   to  be  a  paraphrase  of  the    Lord's 


ORIGIN    OF    MAN. 


"5 


Prayer.  This  prayer  is  quoted,  without  com- 
ment, both  by  Sahagun  and  Torquemada. 

"  Mighty  God,  thou  who  givest  me  life  and 
whose  slave  I  am,  grant  me  the  supreme  grace 
of  giving  me  meat  and  drink  ;  grant  me  the  en- 
joyment of  thy  clemency,  that  it  may  support  me 
in  my  labors  and  my  wants.  Have  pity  on  me 
who  live  sad,  poor,  and  abandoned,  and  since 
I  serve  thee  by  sweeping  thy  temple,  open  to 
me  the  hands  of  thy  mercy." 

Ometeuctli  ("twice  lord")  and  Omecihuatl 
("twice  woman")  were  divinities  who,  in  heaven, 
inhabited  an  enchanted  city,  the  abode  of  all  the 
pleasures.  From  there  they  watched  over  the 
world,  Ometeuctli  being  charged  with  giving  to 
men  their  inclinations,  and  Omecihuatl  presided 
over  those  of  women.  It  was  said  that  the  latter, 
already  the  mother  of  many  children,  gave  birth 
to  a  flint  knife,  which  her  indignant  sons  hurled 
down  to  the  earth.  In  falling,  the  knife  gave 
birth  to  sixteen  hundred  demi-gods.  The  latter, 
finding  no  one  to  serve  them,  —  the  earth  had 
just  been  depopulated  by  a  scourge,  —  sent  an 
embassy  to  their  mother  to  ask  the  gift  of  cre- 
ating men.  The  goddess  replied  that,  if  their 
thoughts  had  been  worthy  of  their  origin,  they 
would  have  come  to  live  with  her.  It  being 
granted  that  they  preferred  to  live  on  the  earth, 
they  should  have  recourse  to  Mictlanteuctli,  god 
of  the  infernal  regions,  to  obtain  human  bones, 
which   they  should  sprinkle  with  their  blood,  and 


I  1 6  THE   AZTECS. 

from  which  would  be  born  a  man  and  a  woman 
who  would  increase  and  multiply.  Omecihuatl 
enjoined  them  to  mistrust  the  god  of  the  infernal 
regions,  who,  after  having  yielded  to  their  demand, 
might  repent  of  his  complaisance.  Following 
the  advice  of  his  mother,  one  of  the  demi-gods, 
Xolotl,  descended  to  the  centre  of  the  earth. 
Having  obtained  what  he  wanted,  he  departed 
running.  Rendered  suspicious  by  this  flight, 
Mictlanteuctli  pursued  him  ;  but  not  being  able 
to  overtake  him,  he  returned  to  his  empire. 

In  his  precipitate  flight,  Xolotl  fell  and  broke 
the  bone  he  was  carrying  into  a  great  many 
pieces  of  unequal  size.  He  gathered  the  pieces 
together  and  rejoined  his  brothers ;  then,  the 
precious  fragments  having  been  placed  at  the 
bottom  of  a  vase,  each  of  the  demi-gods  sprinkled 
them  with  his  blood.  On  the  fourth  day  a  boy 
was  born,  and  on  the  seventh  day  a  girl,  children 
whom  Xolotl  fed  with  the  juice  of  the  thistle. 
The  custom,  so  common  among  the  nations  of 
Anahuac,  of  frequently  bleeding  themselves  from 
various  parts  of  the  body,  sprung  from  this  tradi- 
tion. The  difference  noticeable  in  the  height 
of  men  was  explained  to  the  minds  of  the  Aztecs 
by  the  unequal  size  of  the  fragments  of  the 
broken  bone. 

Ometeuctli  was  also  called  Citlatonac,  and 
Omecihuatl,  Citlaticue. 

Among  the  goddesses  of  Mexican  mythology  the 
principal  was   Cihuacohuatl   ("woman-serpent"). 


TONATHIU    AND    MEZTLI. 


117 


It  was  said  she  was  the  first  woman  that  had 
brought  forth  children,  and  that  she  invaria- 
bly bore  twins.  She  often  showed  herself  to 
men,  always  richly  clothed  and  carrying  a  cradle 
in  which  reposed  a  new-born  child  ;  this  appari- 
tion presaged  a  calamity.  The  Aztecs  looked 
upon  tobacco  as  an  incarnation  of  this  goddess. 

The  sun  and  the  moon  were  deified  by  the 
Aztecs  under  the  names  of  Tonathiu  and  Meztli 
respectively.  The  human  race  having  been  re- 
stored in  the  manner  related,  all  the  demi-cfods 
had  their  servants  and  partisans.  But  the  primi- 
tive sun  having  become  extinct,  they  assembled 
at  Teotihuacan  around  a  great  fire,  and  declared 
to  their  servants  that  the  one  among  them  who 
would  throw  himself  into  the  brazier  would  be 
transformed  into  a  sun.  Immediately  a  man 
more  intrepid  than  his  comrades,  Nanahuatzin, 
cast  himself  into  the  flames  and  went  clown  into 
hell.  Those  present  remained  in  a  state  of  sus- 
pense, anxious  to  know  in  what  part  of  the 
heavens  the  new  sun  would  appear.  At  last 
the  star  appeared  in  the  east,  and  scarcely  had  he 
risen  above  the  horizon,  when  he  stood  still.  The 
demigods  urged  him  to  continue  his  course,  and 
the  sun  replied  that  he  would  do  so  when  they 
were  all  dead.  This  response  filled  them  with 
consternation  ;  one  of  them,  named  Citli,  angrily 
seized  his  bow  and  shot  an  arrow  towards  the 
sun,  which  the  latter  escaped  by  bowing  down. 
Citli  cast  two  more  arrows  with  no  better  success 


Il8  THE    AZTECS. 

Irritated  in  turn,  the  sun  hurled  one  of  the  darts 
at  the  assailant  and  fixed  it  in  his  forehead,  in- 
flicting a  wound  from  which  the  audacious  man 
died. 

Terrified  by  the  misfortune  that  had  befallen 
their  brother,  and  unable  to  struggle  against  the 
sun,  the  demi-gods  resolved  to  die  by  the  hand 
of  Xolotl,  who,  after  opening  the  breasts  of  all 
the  rest,  killed  himself. 

Mankind  were  overcome  with  sorrow  at  the 
death  of  their  masters.  But  soon  the  god  Tez- 
catlipoca  commanded  one  of  them  to  betake  him- 
self to  the  abode  of  the  sun  to  inform  him  that 
a  bridge  of  whales  and  tortoises  would  be  built 
for  the  voyage  he  was  to  undertake  over  the  sea. 
The  god  himself  taught  the  messenger  a  song, 
which  the  latter  was  to  sing  during  his  mission. 
Thence,  according  to  the  Aztecs,  came  not  only 
the  discovery  of  music,  but  also  their  custom  of 
celebrating  the  feast  of  their  gods  with  songs  and 
dances.  On  the  other  hand,  must  not  the  origin 
of  the  human  holocausts,  so  common  among  the 
ancient  Mexicans,  be  sought  for  in  the  frightful 
immolation  of  his  brothers  made  by  Xolotl  ? 

A  fable  very  much  like  the  one  related  con- 
cerning the  birth  of  the  sun  was  current  regard- 
ing that  of  the  moon.  Imitating  the  example 
of  Nanahuatzin,  a  man  had  thrown  himself  into 
the  fire  lighted  at  Teotihuacan  ;  but  the  flames 
having  diminished  in  intensity,  he  came  forth 
less  brilliant  than  his  predecessor,  and  was  trans- 


QUETZACOATL.  U9 

formed  into  a  moon.  On  the  plains  of  Teoti- 
huacan  still  exist  the  ruins  of  the  two  temples 
commemorative  of  these  old  traditions,  —  one 
dedicated  to  the  star  of  day,  the  other  to  that 
of  night. 

The  god  of  air,  among  all  the  nations  of 
Anahuac,  was  called  Ouetzacoatl,  that  is  to  say, 
"  serpent  decked  with  feathers."  It  was  related 
that  he  had  been  a  high-priest  of  Tollan,  and 
that  he  was  a  man  with  a  white  skin,  a  high 
stature,  a  broad  forehead,  large  eyes,  long,  black 
hair,  and  a  bushy  beard.  For  propriety's  sake 
he  always  wore  ample  garments ;  he  was  so 
rich  that  he  possessed  palaces  of  silver  and  fine 
stones.  Industrious,  he  had  invented  the  arts 
of  smelting:  metals  and  of  working  stone.  The 
laws  which  he  had  given  men  proved  his  knowl- 
edge, and  his  austere  life  his  wisdom.  When  he 
wished  to  promulgate  a  law  he  sent  a  hero  whose 
voice  could  be  heard  a  hundred  leagues  away, 
to  proclaim  it  from  the  summit  of  Tzatzitepetl 
("  mountain  of  clamors  "). 

In  the  time  of  Ouetzacoatl  (fig.  8),  maize  attained 
such  enormous  dimensions  that  a  single  ear  was 
all  a  man  could  carry.  Gourds  measured  not  less 
than  four  feet,  and  it  was  no  longer  necessary 
to  dye  cotton,  because  all  colors  were  produced 
by  nature.  The  other  products  of  the  earth 
naturally  attained  dimensions  similar  to  those  of 
Indian  corn  ;  singing-birds  and  birds  of  brilliant 
plumage    abounded.      All    men    were    then    rich. 


120 


THE    AZTECS. 


In  a  word,  the  Aztecs  believed  that  the  reign  of 
Ouetzacoatl  had  been  the  golden  age  of  the 
country  they  inhabited. 


Fig.  8.  —  Quetzacoatl.     Aztec  Statuette  ok  terra-cotta,  kound 
near  Mexico.     (Museum  of  Trocadero.) 

Like  the  Saturn  of  the  Greeks,  with  whom  we 
may  compare  him,  the  god  of  Toltec  origin 
abandoned  his  country.  When  its  prosperity 
was  at  its  height,  Tezcatlipoca,  for  some  unknown 


QUETZACOATL.  I  2  I 

reason,  appeared  to  him  in  the  form  of  an  old 
man,  and  revealed  to  him  that  the  will  of  the 
gods  ordained  that  he  should  betake  himself  to 
the  kingdom  of  Tlapallan.  At  the  same  time 
he  offered  him  a  beverage  by  means  of  which 
Ouetzacoatl  believed  he  might  acquire  immor- 
tality. But  he  had  scarcely  swallowed  the 
draught  when  he  was  seized  with  such  an  irre- 
sistible desire  to  repair  to  Tlapallan  that  he 
immediately  set  out,  escorted  by  a  number  of 
his  followers,  singing  hymns.  Near  the  village 
of  Cuauhtitlan,  Ouetzacoatl  threw  a  number  of 
stones  against  a  tree,  which  adhered  to  the  trunk. 
Near  Tlanepantla  he  placed  his  hand  on  a  rock, 
which  preserved  the  impression  of  it,  —  an  im- 
print which  the  Mexicans  showed  to  the  Span- 
iards after  the  conquest. 

Finally,  when  Ouetzacoatl  reached  Cholula, 
the  inhabitants  of  that  city  conferred  the  supreme 
power  on  him.  The  integrity  of  his  life,  the 
gentleness  of  his  manners,  his  repugnance  to 
every  species  of  cruelty,  won  the  hearts  of  the 
Cholulans.  From  him  they  learned  how  to 
smelt  metals,  —  an  art  which  afterwards  rendered 
them  celebrated.  For  a  long  time  they  obeyed 
the  laws  he  gave  them.  To  Ouetzacoatl  they 
attribute  the  rites  of  their  religion  and  their 
knowledge  of  the  division  of  time. 

After  a  sojourn  of  twenty  years  at  Cholula, 
Ouetzacoatl  resolved  to  continue  his  journey 
towards    the    imaginary  city   of  Tlapallan,  taking 


122  THE    AZTECS. 

with  him  four  young  nobles.  Having  arrived  in 
the  province  of  Goatzacoalco,  he  discharged  his 
followers,  and  charged  them  to  tell  the  Cholulans 
that  he  would  shortly  return  to  them.  The  Cho- 
lulans confided  the  government  of  their  city  to 
the  mandatories  of  their  benefactor,  in  memory  of 
the  friendship  he  had  for  them.  Gradually  the 
report  of  the  death  of  Ouetzacoatl  spread ;  he 
was  then  proclaimed  god  by  the  Toltecs  of  Cho- 
lula,  and  afterwards  declared  protector  of  their 
city,  in  the  centre  of  which  they  raised  in  his 
honor  a  high  mountain,  which  they  crowned  with 
a  temple.  From  Cholula,  the  worship  of  Oue- 
tzacoatl, venerated  as  the  god  of  air,  extended 
over  the  whole  country.  The  Cholulans  piously 
preserved  for  a  long  time  certain  small  green 
stones,  admirably  carved,  which  they  said  had 
belonged  to  their  favorite  god.  The  kings  of 
Yucatan  gloried  in  their  descent  from  Ouetza- 
coatl.  Singular  devotions  !  —  he  it  was  to  whom 
sterile  women  prayed  for  children  ;  and  robbers 
carried  his  image  with  them  in  their  nocturnal 
expeditions.  Ouetzacoatl  was  supposed  to  con- 
trol the  god  of  the  waters,  —  the  wind,  in  all  the 
countries  in  which  he  was  worshipped,  always 
preceding  rain. 

The  most  contradictory  ideas  have  been  current 
in  regard  to  this  divinity,  who,  now  considered  of 
celestial  origin,  and  now  regarded  as  a  man  who 
had  acquired  the  immortality  of  the  gods,  seems 
in  reality  to  be  a  union  of  several  personages.     It 


TLALOC. 


I23 


is  an  incontestable  fact  that  Ouetzacoatl  created  a 
new  religion,  based  on  fasting,  penitence,  and  vir- 
tue. He  certainly  belonged  to  a  race  other  than 
the  one  he  civilized ;  but  what  was  his  country  ? 
He  died,  announcing  that  he  would  return  at  the 
head  of  white-faced  men  ;  and  we  have  seen  that 
the  Indians  believed  his  prophecy  fulfilled  when 
the  Spaniards  landed  on  their  shorts.  Accord- 
ing to  Sahagun,  the  most  usual  ornaments  of  the 
images  of  Ouetzacoatl  were  a  mitre  spotted  like 
the  skin  of  a  tiger,  a  short  embroidered  tunic, 
turquoise  ear-rings,  and  a  golden  collar  supporting 
fine  shells.  The  le<rs  of  these  images  were  en- 
cased  in  gaiters  of  tiger-skin,  and  on  their  feet  were 
black  sandals.  A  shield  hung  from  the  left  arm, 
and  in  the  right  hand  was  a  sceptre  ornamented 
with  precious  stones,  an  emblem  which  termi- 
nated in  a  crook  like  a  bishop's  crosier. 

The  Aztec  Neptune,  called  Tlaloc  (fig.  9)  or 
Tlalocateuctli,  was  at  the  same  time  master  of  par- 
adise. He  was  given  the  title  of  "  Fecundator  of 
the  Earth,"  and  "Protector  of  Temporal  Goods." 
It  was  thought  that  he  lived  on  the  summit  of 
high  mountains,  in  the  regions  where  clouds  were 
formed,  and  it  was  there  people  went  to  pray  to 
him.  Aztec  historians  relate  that  when  the  Alcol- 
huas  arrived  on  the  plateau  of  Anahuac,  during 
the  reign  of  Xolotl,  first  king  of  the  Chichimecs, 
they  found  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Tlaloc,  an 
idol  of  this  <rod  cut  in  a  light  white  stone;  it 
represented  a   man  seated  on  a   square   pedestal, 


124 


THE   AZTECS. 


looking  towards  the  east,  having  at  his  feet  a  vase, 
which  was  filled  with  Indian-rubber  and  all  sorts 

of  seeds.  Every  year  this 
offering  was  renewed,  in 
thankfulness  for  the  har- 
vests reaped.  This  statue, 
which  was  considered  as  the 
most  ancient  in  the  country, 
had  been  set  up  by  the  Tol- 
tecs.  It  remained  at  this 
place  until  the  commence- 
ment of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, when  Nezahualpilli, 
kino-  of  Alcolhuacan,  wish- 
ingr  to  secure  the  love  of  his 
subjects,  replaced  it  with 
another  carved  out  of  very 
hard  black  stone.  The  new 
idol  having-  been  mutilated 
by  lightning,  and  the  priests 
having  declared  that  this 
was  a  punishment  from  the 
^od,  the  old  image  was  re- 
stored,  and  it  remained  in 
place  until  destroyed  by 
order  of  the  first  bishop  of 
Mexico,  Zumarraga,  indig- 
nant at  the  number  of  children  annually  sac- 
rificed to  this  stone  figure,  which  he  estimated 
in   a  letter  at   twenty  thousand  ! 

The  most  characteristic  signs  of  the  idols  which 


I'ic  9  —  Tlaloc.  Found 
near  Oazaca.  (Museum 
of  Trocadero.) 


TLALOC 


I25 


represent  Tlaloc,  are  the  round  eyes  surrounded 
with  circles  like  spectacles.  A  piece  of  work  in 
relief,  in  the  form  of  mustaches,  is  placed  above 
their  mouth,  and  is  sometimes  prolonged  into  an 


Fig.  io — Cross  ok  Ti.ai.oc.     Found  in  the  Toltec  Ruins 

NEAR   TeOTIHUACAN.       (MUSEUM   OF   TROCADERO.) 

appendage  in  the  shape  of  a  nose.  From  their 
opened  lips  teeth  project,  usually  four  in  number, 
long,  curved,  and  sharp.  Their  hands  raised  to 
the  height  of  the  head  seem  in  the  act  of  hurling 


126  THE    AZTECS. 

the  thunder-bolt  and  letting  loose  the  waters. 
The  god  at  times  brandishes  a  serpent,  as  an 
image  of  the  lightning. 

I  have  collected  a  2Teat  number  of  small  fi^- 
ures  of  baked  clay  of  this  god  in  the  grottos  of 
the  Sierra  de  Songolica,  and  on  the  crown  bor- 
dered with  pearls  with  which  they  are  capped,  is 
found  the  cross,  whose  presence  on  so  many  Mexi- 
can monuments  so  misled  the  old  missionaries, 
and  which  is  one  of  the  emblems  of  Tlaloc,  at 
times  usurped  by  Ouetzacoatl.  The  missionaries 
saw  in  this  coincidence  a  proof  that  Christianity 
had  already  been  preached  to  the  Indians,  and 
St.  Thomas  was  looked  upon  as  having  discov- 
ered America  before  Columbus.  In  a  learned 
and  critical  memoir  on  a  cross  found  at  Teotihua- 
can  (fig.  10),  Doctor  Hamy  has  clearly  shown 
how  one  of  the  emblems  of  Tlaloc,  intended  to 
represent  rain,  had  gradually  taken  under  the 
chisel  of  sculptors  the  form  of  the  venerated  sign 
of  Christianity. 

Modern  historians  claim  it  was  not  Tlaloc  alone 
who  lived  in  the  mountains,  but  also  a  multi- 
tude of  lesser  gods,  called  Tlalocs.  Nevertheless, 
the  appellations  Apozonalotl  ("foamy  wave"), 
Atlacamani  ("tempestuous"),  Ayau  ("  capricious 
wave "),  etc.,  designate,  I  think,  Tlaloc  himself, 
qualified  by  names  of  the  different  states  of  the 
liquid  which  he  ruled  ;  these  qualifications  were 
likewise  applied  to  his  sister  or  his  wife,  the 
goddess   Chalchiuitlicue. 


TLA  LOG. 


127 


In  the  ideographic  manuscripts,  the  image  of 
Tlaloc  is  painted  green  and  azure,  representing 
the  various  shades  of  water.  It  is  armed  with  a 
golden  wand  twisted  into  a  spiral,  ending  in  a 
sharp  point,  in  representation  of  a  thunder-bolt. 
Tlaloc  had  a  chapel  on  the  top  of  the  great  tem- 
ple of  Mexico,  as  important  as  that  of  Huitzili- 
pochtli,  with  which  it  was  connected.  Festivals 
in  honor  of  this  god  were  of  frequent  occur- 
rence ;  on  these  occasions  he  was  worshipped 
with  strange  ceremonies,  and  human  sacrifices, 
especially  of  children.  The  cemetery  recently  dis- 
covered by  M.  Desire  Charnay,  at  an  elevation  of 
fifteen  hundred  feet,  on  one  of  the  slopes  of  Popo- 
catepetl, and  in  which  only  bones  of  children  were 
found  is  considered  by  Doctor  Hamy  as  the  burial- 
place  of  the  young  victims  sacrificed  to  Tlaloc. 

On  the  clay  of  the  feast  of  the  Tlalocs,  the 
priests  of  these  ministers  of  the  god  of  the  waters 
betook  themselves  to  the  lagoon  of  Citlatepetl, 
situated  a  few  miles  from  Mexico,  to  cut  the  reeds 
for  decorating  the  altar.  On  the  way  they  had 
a  right  to  seize  the  clothing  and  merchandise 
which  was  carried  by  those  whom  they  met,  even 
when  it  consisted  of  tribute  for  the  king.  On 
that  day  also,  priests,  who  during  the  year  had 
been  remiss  in  their  duties,  were  plunged  into  the 
water  and  held  thereuntil  they  lost  consciousness. 

The  waters,  as  we  have  seen,  were  not  entirely 
under  the  control  of  Tlaloc,  but  also  under  that 
of  Chalchihuitlicue,  designated  by  a    number  of 


I28  THE    AZTECS. 

names  descriptive  of  the  various  states  of  water. 
On  Mount  Tlascala,  a  peak  about  which  are 
formed  the  storms  that  break  upon  the  city  of 
Puebla,  a  temple  arose  dedicated  to  this  goddess, 
who  was  specially  invoked  on  the  day  of  the  birth 
of  infants. 

Xiutecuhtli  ("  lord  of  the  comets  "),  god  of  the 
year  and  of  verdure,  was  at  the  same  time  god  of 
fire,  under  the  expressive  designation  of  Izcozauh- 
qui  ("yellow  or  flame-colored  face").  He  was 
one  of  the  most  revered  of  the  gods,  and  the  first 
mouthful  of  all  dishes,  and  the  first  swallows  of  all 
drink  were  offered  to  him,  by  throwing  them  into 
a  brazier. 

The  goddess  of  the  earth  and  of  maize,  Cente- 
otl  ("  surrounded  by  other   goddesses  "),   was  also 
called  Tonacayohua  ("  she  who  nourishes  ").  This 
Ceres    was    especially    adored    by   the  Totonacs, 
inhabitants    of    the    shores    of    Vera   Cruz,   who 
regarded  her  as   their  principal   protectress.     On 
the  summit   of  a   mountain   they   erected  an   im- 
posing   temple    to    her,    served   by   a   number  of 
priests,  and   in   which   the   oracles   were   uttered. 
The  Totonacs  had  a  great  affection   for  this  di- 
vinity,  who    refused    human   sacrifices,   and    was 
contented  with  the  immolation  of  quails,  turtles, 
and   rabbits.     They   believed   that  she    defended 
them    against    the    Gfods   who    demanded  blood. 
In   Mexico,  on  the   occasion  of  the  feast  of  Cen- 
teotl,  the  thresholds   of    the   houses,    from  early 
morning,   were   sprinkled  with    blood    which   the 


CENTEOTL. 


129 


inmates  were  obliged  to  draw  from  their  ears ; 
besides  this  all  the  doors  were  ornamented  with 
palms  or  reeds,  —  a  custom  which  reminded  the 
Spaniards  of    Palm  Sunday.     Although,  among 


Fig.  11.  —  Centeotl.     Stone  Statue,   found  in    the   Valley  of 
Mexico.     (Museum  of  Trocadero.) 

the  Totonacs,  Centeotl  was  content  with  offerings 
of  flowers,  fruits,  and  more  especially  of  maize, 
the  Aztec  priests  did  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  ani- 
mals and  human  victims  to  her  (fig.  1  1). 

9 


I30  THE   AZTECS. 

The  earth,  in  its  entirety,  was  deified  by  the 
Aztecs ;  they  represented  it  under  the  form  of  an 
animal  provided  with  mouths  at  every  articula- 
tion,—  mouths  filled  with  blood.  The  earth, 
they  said,  devours  and  absorbs  everything. 

Mictlanteuctli  ("god  of  hell"),  of  whom  we 
have  already  spoken,  and  his  sister  or  companion, 
Mictlancihuatl,  were  greatly  honored.  Nocturnal 
sacrifices  were  offered  to  them,  and  their  high- 
priest  painted  his  body  black  to  fulfil  his  func- 
tions. As  to  the  god  of  night,  Xoalteuctli,  he 
was  confounded  with  Meztli  ("  the  moon "),  or 
with  Xoaticitl  ("  goddess  of  the  cradles  "),  who 
was  invoked  as  the  protector  of  the  sleep  of 
infants. 

Huitzilipochtli,  or  Mexitli,  the  terrible  god  of 
war,  whose  name  signifies  "  the  left-handed  war- 
rior," was  without  contradiction  the  most  honored 
divinity  among  the  Aztecs,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
considered  themselves  as  his  special  proteges. 
Some  thought  that  this  god  was  a  pure  spirit, 
others  that  he  was  of  a  human  nature. 

According  to  tradition,  at  Coatepec,  a  town 
near  the  old  city  of  Tollan,  lived  a  woman  named 
Coatlicue,  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  gods. 
One  day  when,  according  to  her  custom,  she  was 
sweeping  the  temple,  she  saw  fall  from  heaven  a 
ball  formed  of  feathers,  which  she  picked  up  and 
preserved  in  her  bosom,  intending  to  use  the 
feathers  to  decorate  the  altar.  Her  work  ended, 
she  in  vain  sought  for  the  ball  ;  at  the  same  time 


HUITZILIPOCHTLI. 


J3I 


she  felt  herself  big  with  child.  Her  pregnancy 
became  perceptible,  and  was  noticed  by  her  sons. 
Although  they  did  not  doubt  their  mother's  virtue, 
they  dreaded  the  shame  that  would  be  reflected 
on  them  by  her  deliverance,  and  resolved  to  kill 
her.  Coatlicue,  having  learned  of  the  intentions 
of  her  sons,  was  seized  with  fear.  When  she  was 
thus  afflicted  a  voice  came  from  her  breast,  which 
said  to  her  :  "  Have  no  fear,  mother,  I  will  save 
you,  with  honor  to  you  and  glory  to  me."  Never- 
theless, her  sons,  urged  thereto  by  their  sister 
Coyolnauhqui,  more  excited  than  they,  were  pre- 
paring to  commit  the  crime  they  had  premed- 
itated, when  Huitzilipochtli  was  born,  a  shield 
in  his  left  hand,  a  lance  in  his  right  hand,  his 
head  surmounted  by  a  green  plume,  his  face  sur- 
rounded with  blue  rays,  and  his  left  leg  orna- 
mented with  feathers.  As  soon  as  born  he 
caused  a  serpent  to  appear,  which,  transformed 
into  a  torch,  consumed  Coyolnauhqui,  as  the 
most  guilty.  By  the  light  of  this  torch  the  god 
rushed  upon  his  brothers  with  such  impetuosity 
that  in  spite  of  their  efforts  and  their  prayers  all 
were  massacred.  These  feats  terrified  those  who 
witnessed  them,  and  secured  for  the  new-born 
the  name  of  Tetzahuitl  ("  terror.") 

The  special  protector  of  the  Aztecs,  Huitzili- 
pochtli, according  to  their  traditions,  conducted 
them  to  the  lakes  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
founded  the  city  of  Mexico.  There  they  erected 
the  immense  temple  which  so  excited  the  wonder 


l32 


THE    AZTECS. 


of  the  Spaniards,  in  which  they  placed  a  colossal 
statue  of  the  fierce  divinity.  This  statue,  which 
was  of  wood,  represented  a  man  seated  on  a  pedes- 
tal painted  blue,  to  represent  the  sky,  from  each 
angle  of  which  a  serpent  issued.     The  forehead 


Fig.    12.  —  IIurrziLii'ocHTLi.     From  a  Manuscriit.    (National 

Lihrary.) 


of  the  idol  was  of  an  azure  tint,  and  his  face  was 
crossed  from  ear  to  ear  by  a  band  of  the  same 
color.  On  his  head  was  placed  a  helmet,  in  the 
form  of  a  bird,  whose  golden  beak  held  a  bunch 
of  green  feathers.  Around  the  neck  of  this  mon- 
strous figure  was  a  collar  representing  six  human 


HUITZILIPOCHTLI. 


J33 


hearts.  In  his  right  hand  he  held,  like  a  sceptre, 
a  waving  serpent  of  a  bluish  color,  and  in  the  left 
a  buckler  fringed  with  yellow  feathers,  on  which 
were  five  balls  also  made  of  feathers  and  ar- 
ranged in  the  form  of  a  cross.  From  the  upper 
part  of  the  shield  proceeded  four  arrows,  sent, 
they  said,  by  heaven  to  the  god  as  a  reward  for 
his  terrible  actions.  His  head  was  also  some- 
times surmounted  by  the  head  of  a  vulture  or  of 
a  tiger  (fig.  12). 

On  the  body  of  the  hideous  statue  were  numer- 
ous images  of  animals,  carved  out  of  gold  or 
precious  stones,  —  ornaments  each  one  of  which 
had  its  special  signification.  The  god  was  al- 
ways hidden  by  a  veil,  as  a  sign  of  respect. 
When  a  war  broke  out  the  Aztecs  hastened  to 
implore  his  aid,  and  to  him  they  sacrificed  the 
largest  number  of  human  victims. 

Besides  one  of  his  young  brothers,  Tlacahue- 
pan-Cuexcotzin,  who,  like  himself,  presided  over 
the  affairs  of  war,  Huitzilipochtli  had  a  lieuten- 
ant named  Paynal  ("  swift  ")  charged  with  direct- 
ing unexpected  attacks,  surprises,  and  assaults. 
In  case  of  war,  priests  placed  the  image  of  this 
divinity  on  their  shoulders,  and  went  through  all 
the  streets  of  the  city  at  a  rapid  pace.  At  the 
sight  of  him  all  the  soldiers  were  required  to  take 
up  arms  immediately. 

At  the  head  of  the  gods  considered  as  second- 
ary in  Aztec  mythology  was  Xacateuctli  or  Yaca- 
tecutli,    ("he    who    guides,")    who    presided    over 


134  THE   AZTECS. 

commerce.  The  Aztec  merchants,  who  were 
very  numerous  and  well  organized,  feasted  him 
twice  a  year  with  sacrifices  and  banquets. 

The  god  of  the  chase,  Mixcoatl  ("  cloudy  ser- 
pent,") was  specially  worshipped  by  the  Otomites, 
who  lived  in  the  forests,  and  were  almost  all 
hunters.  Nevertheless,  this  god  had  two  temples 
in  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  wild  animals  were 
sacrificed  to  him. 

Opochtli  ("left  hand")  was  the  god  of  fishing. 
He  was  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  the  line  and 
other  things  used  in  catching  fish.  At  Cuitlahuac, 
a  city  situated  on  a  small  island  of  Lake  Chalco, 
he  was  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Amimitl. 

The  numerous  salt-works  that  are  still  found 
around  Mexico  occupied  a  great  many  workmen, 
who  had  Huixtocihuatl,  goddess  of  salt,  for  their 
protectress,  and  to  whom  they  sacrificed  young 
girls. 

A  singular  fact,  —  it  was  a  woman,  the  god- 
dess Tlapotlazenan,  who  presided  over  the  art 
of  healing.  The  discovery  of  the  principal  medi- 
cines in  use  was  attributed  to  her,  and  above  all 
the  discovery  of  uxitl,  a  sort  of  tercbinthine, 
which  served  as  a  base  for  ointments. 

Tezcatzoncatl,  god  of  wine,  was  designated 
under  many  names,  descriptive  of  the  effects  of 
the  intoxicating  liquor  he  had  invented.  He  was 
called  Tequechmecaniani  ("  he  who  strangles ") 
or  Teotlahuiani,  ("  he  who  submerges").  In  the 
city   of   Mexico  alone  there   were  three  hundred 


INFERIOR    DEITIES.  I  35 

priests  consecrated  to  his  worship.  On  the  day 
specially  dedicated  to  him  the  priest  charged  with 
representing  him  put  on  white  sandals,  dressed 
his  hair  with  feathers  of  the  heron,  and  orna- 
mented the  cloak  that  covered  his  shoulders  with 
small  shells. 

Ixtlilton  ("  black  face  "),  called  also  Tlatetecuin 
("he  who  strikes  or  digs  out  the  earth  "),  seems 
to  have  presided  over  medicine.  Fathers  car- 
ried their  sick  children  into  his  temple,  and  made 
them  dance  before  the  idol,  dictating  prayers  to 
them  which  they  had  to  recite  to  be  cured.  Af- 
ter this  ceremony  the  children  drank  a  liquor 
prepared  by  the  priests. 

Coatlicue  or  Coatlantona  ("  skirt  with  the 
viper "),  goddess  of  flowers,  was  probably  the 
mother  of  Huitzilipochtli.  Gardeners  at  the  be- 
ginning of  spring  offered  her  garlands  of  flowers 
skilfully  arranged,  —  a  charming  art  in  which  the 
Indians  still  excel. 

Tlazolteotl  ("  goddess  of  trickery "),  was  also 
called  Ixcuina  and  Tlaelquani.  She  was  the 
divinity  invoked  by  evil-doers,  to  obtain  not  only 
pardon  for  their  faults,  but  also  to  escape  the  in- 
famy that  might  result  therefrom.  Her  priests, 
in  the  name  of  Tezcatlipoca,  had  the  right 
to  accord  absolute  pardon  to  the  guilty  who 
came  to  confess  their  faults  or  their  crimes  to 
them ;  this  was  a  sort  of  auricular  confession. 
The  penitent  had  to  avoid  falling  again  into  the 
same    sin    for  which    he   had   been    absolved,  for 


136  THE    AZTECS. 

Tezcatlipoca  pardoned  the  same  fault  but  once. 
The  goddess  Tlazolteotl  and  her  four  sisters, 
Tiacapan,  Teicu,  Tlaco  and  Xocoyotzin,  corres- 
ponded to  the  unchaste  Venus  of  the  ancients. 

Xipetotec  ("  bald  "  or  "  the  flayer  "),  was  the  god 
of  goldsmiths.  He  was  venerated  all  the  more  as 
he  revenged  himself  on  those  who  neglected  his 
worship,  by  afflicting  them  with  headaches  and 
diseases  of  the  eyes,  to  say  nothing  of  the  itch. 
Victims  intended  for  his  altars  were  dragged  by 
the  hair,  and  his  devotees  wrapped  themselves  up 
in  the  skin  of  the  men  flayed  during  his  festivals. 
This  it  seems  was  a  threat  addressed  to  those  who 
stole  gold  or  silver,  and  who  were  punished  in 
this  terrible  manner. 

Napateuctli  ("four  times  lord"),  had  a  chapel, 
—  two,  according  to  Sahagun,  —  in  the  great  tem- 
ple of  Mexico.  He  was  the  protector  of  mat- 
makers.  He  was  said  to  be  good,  liberal,  and 
always  ready  to  pardon  injuries;  he  was  one  of 
the   ministers  of  Tlaloc. 

Omacatl  or  Omeacatlomacatl  ("two  reeds"), 
was  the  god  of  rejoicing,  a  sort  of  Comus.  He 
assisted,  at  least  by  his  image,  at  the  banquets 
given  by  the  great  lords.  On  these  occasions 
the  idol  consecrated  to  this  god  was  borrowed 
from  the  temple  and  placed  in  the  midst  of  the 
guests.  To  neglect  doing  this  would  have  been 
to  expose  one's  self  to  misfortune. 

Tonantzin  ("  our  mother ")  seems  to  be  the 
goddess  Cihuacoatl.     Her  temple  was  near  a  hill 


INFERIOR    DEITIES. 


137 


two  miles  from  Mexico.  The  chapel  of  Notre- 
Dame  de  Guadeloupe,  the  virgin  that  appeared 
to  the  Indian  Juan  Diego,  and  whom  the  modern 
Mexicans  have  adopted  as  a  patroness,  now  stands 
on  almost  the  same  spot,  and  is  the  most  cele- 
brated Catholic  sanctuary  of  the  New  World. 
Until  1853  the  clergy  permitted  the  Indians, 
clothed  as  they  were  in  the  time  of  Moteuczoma, 
to  dance  even  in  the  interior  of  the  chapel. 
Some  time  later  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico  de- 
cided to  forbid  these  diversions,  which  were  for- 
merly indulged  in  in  honor  of  Tonantzin.  But 
the  Indians  are  tenacious  of  their  customs ; 
driven  from  the  church  they  now  dance  in  the 
enclosure. 

Teoteoinan,  as  indicated  by  the  meaning  of  the 
Aztec  word,  was  the  mother  of  the  gods  ;  the 
washerwomen  invoked  her  under  the  name  of 
Tecitzin. 

Let  us  end  this  long  list  by  mentioning  Hama- 
teuctli  ("old  lady")  protectress  of  aged  women; 
and  then  the  Teopictons,  household  gods  that 
were  represented  by  small  figures.  The  kings 
were  obliged  to  have  six  of  these  idols  in  their 
palaces,  the  nobles  four,  and  the  plebeians  two. 
On  the  roads  and  streets  of  cities  these  images 
were  seen  by  hundreds. 

Besides  the  gods  we  have  just  enumerated, 
Mexican  mythology  reckoned  two  hundred  and 
sixty  others,  to  whom  as  many  days  of  the  year 
were  consecrated.     The  names  of  tin-  days  of  the 


I  38  THE   AZTECS. 

first  thirteen  months  of  the  Aztec  calendar  are 
also  those  of  secondary  divinities. 

The  other  nations  of  Anahuac  worshipped 
almost  the  same  gods  as  the  Mexicans,  but  not 
always  in  the  same  manner.  Thus  Huitzili- 
pochtli  was  the  principal  god  in  Mexico,  Quetza- 
coatl  in  Cholula,  Centeotl  among  the  Totonacs, 
and  Mixcoatl  among  the  Otomites.  The  Tlaxcal- 
tecs,  rivals  of  the  Aztecs,  nevertheless  adored  the 
same  gods ;  but  among  them  Huitzilipochtli  bore 
the  name  of  Camaxtle. 

In  Mexican  mythology,  there  are  some  exam- 
ples of  metamorphosis.  Thus  it  was  related  that 
a  man  named  Xapan,  having  resolved  to  do  pen- 
ance upon  a  mountain,  was  tempted  by  a  woman 
and  committed  adultery.  He  was  immediately 
beheaded  by  Xaotl,  whom  the  gods  had  charged 
to  watch  over  his  conduct.  Not  content  with 
this  punishment,  Xaotl  followed  the  woman,  who 
was  transformed  into  a  scorpion.  The  gods,  then 
judging  that  their  agent  had  overstepped  his 
authority,  metamorphosed  him  in  turn  into  a 
grasshopper.  The  Aztecs  attributed  the  custom 
—  well  known  to  naturalists  —  which  the  scor- 
pion has  of  hiding  under  stones  and  fleeing  from 
the  light,  to  shame  on  account  of  the  crime  which 
had  cost  him  his  transformation. 

Among  the  Aztecs  the  images  of  the  gods  are 
hideous,  and  generally  disfigured  by  a  fantastic 
symbolism,  intended  to  produce  an  impression  of 
dread.     The  work  of  a  cultivated  people,  but  still 


MODERN    WORSHIP. 


l39 


barbarous  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  the 
statues  of  the  Aztec  gods  are  chaste  in  attitude  and 
always  clothed.  They  bear  the  impress  of  severe, 
rude,  and  melancholy  imaginations,  not  willing  to 
sacrifice  to  the  sensual  refinements  of  civilization 
and  seeking  to  inspire  respect  by  terror. 

Have  the  names  and  worship  of  the  gods  front 
whom  we  have  just  brushed  the  dust  completely 
disappeared  from  the  memory  of  the  modern 
Aztecs  ?  Do  none  of  them  remember  the  blood 
shed  by  their  ancestors  before  the  grinning  images 
whose  ruins  now  fill  our  museums?  In  a  word, 
is  the  past  dead  in  their  memory,  and  has  the 
new  religion  which  has  been  forced  upon  them 
by  the  strong  hand  of  the  Spaniard  completely 
effaced  from  their  minds  the  redoubtable  divini- 
ties formerly  so  highly  venerated  ?  For  those 
who  have  lived  among  them  everything  indicates 
that  it  has.  Teotihuacan  is  a  desert,  and  its  for- 
ests, already  venerable,  cover  the  mountains  on 
whose  summits  proud  statues  of  Tlaloc,  of  Tez- 
catlipoca,  and  of  Centeotl  were  raised  long  ago. 
And  still,  in  grottos  unexpectedly  discovered,  I 
have  frequently  found  myself  in  the  presence  of  a 
figure  of  Mictlanteuctli,  at  the  foot  of  which  a 
recent  offering  of  food  had  been  placed.  Were 
these  offerings  a  piece  of  homage  to  a  proscribed 
god,  or  those  of  a  modern  wizard  to  the  devil 
of  the  Christians?  The  Indian  is  mute  when 
questioned  on  these  matters,  and  the  imagination 
is  free  to  adopt  either  interpretation. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Idols.  —  Worship.  —  The  Great  Temple  of  Mexico. — 
Lesser  Temples. —  Priests  and  Priestesses. — Religious 
Orders. 

'""THE  number  of  idols  worshipped  in  the  tem- 
*  pies,  in  the  houses,  on  the  roads,  and  in  the 
forests  of  Anahuac  was  so  large  that  Zumarraga, 
the  first  bishop  of  Mexico,  declares  that  the  monks 
of  St.  Francis  alone  destroyed  more  than  twenty 
thousand  of  them  in  the  space  of  eight  years. 
The  greater  part  of  these  idols  were  of  terra 
cotta,  wood,  or  granite  ;  sometimes,  however,  they 
were  made  of  gold,  or  even  carved  out  of  precious 
stones.  Benedito  Fernandez,  the  celebrated  Do- 
minican friar,  found  on  a  mountain  of  Achiotla  in 
Miztec,  a  small  idol  called  the  "  heart  of  the  peo- 
ple." It  was  a  magnificent  emerald,  four  fingers 
in  length,  and  two  in  breadth,  bearing  the  image 
of  a  bird  in  the  coils  of  a  serpent.  The  Span- 
iards offered  the  zealous  missionary  fifteen  hun- 
dred piastres  for  the  jewel ;  but  he,  seeing  only 
the  work  of  the  devil  in  it,  refused  to  sell  it,  and 
broke  it  before  the  Indians.  In  enumerating  the 
principal  gods,  we  have  described  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  represented.  Death  ("Miquiz- 
tli "),  who  does  not  seem  to  have  been  deified  by 


WORSHIP. 


I4I 


the  Aztecs,  was  adored  nevertheless,  and  was  rep- 
resented as  a  monster  ready  to  seize  an  invisible 
prey  (fig.  13). 

All  the  peoples  of  Ana- 
huac  worshipped  their  gods 
by  touching  the  soil  with 
the  middle  finger  of  the 
right  hand,  and  carrying 
to  the  mouth  the  dust  that 
adhered  to  it,  and  also  by 
prostrations,  fasts,  and  oth- 
er austerities.  They  ad- 
dressed their  prayers  to 
them,  bending  down  with 
the  face  turned  towards 
the  east ;  the  door  of  the 
temples,  therefore,  always 
faced  the  west. 

The  Aztecs  called  the 
sods  to  witness  their  ve- 
racity,  the  form  of  their 
oath  being  "  Perchance,  is 
not  the  eye  of  God  upon 
me?  "  At  such  times, 
they  touched  the  earth 
with  the  right  hand,  and 
afterwards  kissed  it.  The 
oath  was  of  great  value  in 

tribunals,  for  it  was  believed  that  no  one  would 
be  rash  enough  to  invoke  the  name  of  the  gods 
untruthfully. 


Fig.  13.  —  Miquiztli.  A 
Statue  found  near  Tehu- 
acan,  ok  which  there  is 
a  Cast  in  the  Museum  OF 
Trocadero. 


142  THE    AZTECS. 

The  Aztecs,  wherever  they  stopped  during  their 
long  wanderings,  built  a  sacred  hut  in  which  to 
shelter  and  worship  their  tutelary  divinity,  Huit- 
zilipochtli  ;  and  we  have  seen  that  this  was  one  of 
their  first  cares  when  they  founded  Mexico.  The 
humble  reed  hut,  in  time,  became  an  important 
edifice,  around  which  were  grouped  other  build- 
ings, intended  for  the  secondary  gods.  The  tem- 
ples were  designated  by  the  generic  names  of 
Teopan  and  of  Teocalli  ("  houses  of  God "), 
names  which  their  descendants  now  apply  to  the 
Catholic  churches. 

Itzacoatl,  during  his  reign,  transformed  the  rus- 
tic asylum  into  an  imposing  edifice,  which  his  suc- 
cessor, Moteuczoma  Ilhuicamina,  in  turn  modified, 
embellished,  and  enlarged.  Finally,  Ahuitzotl 
completed  the  vast  edifice  his  predecessor  Tizoc 
had  begun,  and  which  the  Spaniards  lauded  so 
greatly  after  they  had  destroyed  it. 

There  are  no  documents  to  establish  the  exact 
dimensions  of  this  Teocalli,  for  the  four  historians 
who  had  visited  and  described  it,  —  Cortez,  Ber- 
nal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  the  anonymous  Conqueror, 
and  Sahagun, — speak  of  it  with  flagrant  contra- 
dictions. According  to  their  accounts,  verified  by 
Clavigero,  the  following  may  be  considered  as  the 
truth. 

Built  in  the  middle  of  the  city,  this  vast  edifice, 
which  had  the  form  of  a  truncated  pyramid,  cov- 
ered, with  the  temples  annexed,  all  the  space  now 
occupied  by  the  cathedral  of  Mexico,  —  the  great 


THE   GREAT   TEMPLE   OF    MEXICO.  143 

square  and  the  adjoining  streets.  The  wall,  sculp- 
tured with  intertwined  serpents,  which  surrounded 
it,  formed  a  square,  according  to  Cortez,  large 
enough  to  contain  a  village  of  five  hundred  houses. 
Made  of  stone  and  mortar,  this  wall,  which  was 
very  broad,  was  surmounted  with  battlements,  and 
furnished  with  four  gates  facing  the  four  cardinal 
points.  A  broad  road  extended  from  the  eastern 
gate  to  Lake  Tezcoco.  The  other  three  gates 
opened  upon  the  three  principal  streets  of  the 
city,  which  were  long  and  broad,  and  which  ex- 
tended, by  means  of  the  causeways  constructed 
over  the  lake,  as  far  as  the  villages  of  Iztapala- 
pan,  Tacuba,  and  Tepejacac.  Each  of  these  gates 
was  ornamented  with  stands  of  offensive  and 
defensive  arms.  In  case  of  necessity,  soldiers 
repaired  there  to  arm  themselves. 

The  interior  court  enclosed  by  this  wall  was 
paved  with  stones  so  highly  polished  that  the 
horses  of  the  Spaniards  could  not  venture  into  it 
without  running  the  risk  of  falling.  In  the  mid- 
die  of  this  court  arose  the  vast  truncated  pyramid, 
having  according  to  some  the  form  of  a  parallelo- 
gram, according  to  others  that  of  a  square.  This 
pyramid,  covered  with  bricks,  was  composed  of 
five  steps  of  equal  height,  but  not  of  equal  length 
or  width,  for  the  higher  were  narrower  than  the 
lower.  The  first  step,  the  base  of  the  edifice, 
about  fifteen  feet  high,  measured  three  hundred 
feet  from  east  to  west,  and  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  from   north  to  south.     The  second  was 


144  THE    AZTECS. 

smaller  than  the  first  by  about  ten  feet,  and  the 
others  diminished  in  the  same  proportion.  In 
consequence  of  this  construction  each  step  was 
bordered  by  an  open  space,  on  which  three  or 
four  men  could  walk  abreast. 

The  stairway  of  this  edifice,  placed  on  the  ex- 
terior, on  the  southern  side,  was  composed  of  a 
hundred  and  thirty  steps  a  foot  in  height.  This 
stairway  was,  however,  not  continuous.  The 
first  twenty  steps  passed,  it  was  necessary  to 
go  around  the  sort  of  corridor  we  have  just 
described  to  reach  those  leading  to  the  second 
floor ;  and  so  on.  This  opinion  has,  however, 
been  seriously  questioned. 

Having  reached  the  top  of  this  singular  monu- 
ment, —  a  flat  place  so  large  that  five  hundred 
Mexican  nobles  were  able  to  fortify  themselves 
there  and  defend  themselves  against  the  troops  of 
Cortez,  —  two  towers,  fifty  feet  high,  composed  of 
three  stories,  could  be  seen  on  the  eastern  side. 
The  first  of  these  stories  was  composed  of  stone 
and  mortar,  the  other  two  of  wood  artistically 
carved.  In  the  story  made  of  stone  was  what 
may  be  called  the  sanctuary  ;  and  there,  on  an 
altar  five  feet  high,  the  protecting  divinities  were 
arranged  in  a  row.  One  of  these  sanctuaries  was 
consecrated  to  Huitzihpochtli  and  the  gods  of 
war,  the  other  to  Tlaloc.  The  higher  stories 
served  as  storage-rooms  for  the  utensils  used  in 
their  ceremonies ;  the  ashes  of  the  kings  and  of 
many  high  dignitaries  were  deposited  there. 


LESSER    TEMPLES. 


145 


The  doors  of  the  sanctuaries  opened  towards 
the  west,  and  the  two  towers  terminated  in 
wooden  cupolas.  The  total  height  of  the  edifice, 
at  the  base  of  which  two  statues  of  stone  held 
torches  that  were  always  kept  burning,  must  have 
been  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  From  the  top 
of  the  towers  a  part  of  the  valley  of  Mexico  could 
be  seen,  presenting  a  view  of  marvellous  beauty. 

The  space  between  the  grand  temple  and  the 
surrounding  wall  was  reserved  for  sacred  dances ; 
the  rest  was  occupied  by  more  than  sixty  impor- 
tant buildings, —  Sahagun  enumerates  seventy- 
eight, —  and  the  different  stones  erected  for 
sacrifices :  techcatls,  temalacatls  and  teocuauhxi- 
callis.  Among  the  most  important  secondary 
temples  we  must  rank  those  of  Tezcatlipoca, 
Tlaloc,  and  Ouetzacoatl.  These  edifices,  whose 
facades  were  turned  towards  the  principal  temple, 
were  not  of  the  same  size.  The  temple  of  Ouet- 
zacoatl, instead  of  being  a  parallelogram,  was  cir- 
cular. Its  entrance  represented  the  mouth  of  a 
serpent,  with  fangs,  and  the  Spaniards  dreaded  to 
cross  its  threshold. 

One  of  the  temples,  called  Ilhuicatitlan  ("  near 
the  sky"),  was  dedicated  to  the  planet  Venus.  In 
the  temple  a  pillar  was  erected,  on  which  was 
painted  or  carved  a  representation  of  that  star. 
Near  this  column,  when  the  planet  appeared  in 
the  heavens,  prisoners  were  sacrificed. 

Among  the  number  of  edifices  grouped  in  the 
immense  enclosure  we  must  mention  five  colleges 


10 


146  THE   AZTECS. 

for  priests  and  three  seminaries,  buildings  occu- 
pied by  a  large  number  of  people  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  the  gods.  Next  came  the  "Epcoatl 
("pearl  and  serpent  "),  the  temple  of  the  ministers 
of  Tlaloc  and  of  the  inferior  divinities  of  the 
waters  ;  the  Macuicalli  ("  five  houses  "),  in  which 
spies  caught  in  Mexico  were  cut  in  pieces;  the 
Tlalxico  ("  navel  of  the  earth  "),  dedicated  to 
Mictlanteuctli ;  the  Iztaccinteutl  ("  white  corn"), 
a  temple  in  which  victims  afflicted  with  leprosy 
were  sacrificed  ;  the  Tlelatiloyan,  an  excavation  in 
which  the  skins  of  flayed  victims  were  deposited. 

We  must  mention  an  arsenal,  situated  near  the 
temple  Tezcacalli  ("  house  of  mirrors  "),  where  the 
idols  of  Omacatl,  god  of  banquets,  were  kept; 
also  another  edifice,  dedicated  to  the  moon  and 
called  Tecucizcalli  ("  house  of  shells  "),  which  was 
covered  with  the  shells  of  mollusks.  It  was  near 
a  chapel  designated  by  the  name  of  Ouauxicalco 
("heads  of  gourds"),  a  place  filled  with  skulls,  to 
which  the  kings  repaired  to  fast  and  pray.  A 
second  retreat,  Poyautlan  ("  dark  place  "),  was 
used  tjy  the  high-priest ;  and  many  others  were  set 
aside  for  special  officers,  or  reserved  for  lodgings 
for  people  of  distinction  from  the  provinces  who 
were  attracted  to  Mexico  by  ambition,  devotion, 
or  curiosity. 

To  a  pond  called  Tezcaapan  ("  water  mirror  ") 
numbers  of  devotees  came  to  bathe,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  vows.  Among  the  fountains  or  springs 
within   the  sacred  enclosure  was   one,  the  water 


LESSER   TEMPLES.  147 

of  which  could  be  drunk  only  during  solemn 
feasts.  Around  the  temples  were  aviaries,  where 
birds  intended  for  the  sacrifices  were  raised,  and 
also  large  gardens,  where  plants  remarkable  for 
the  beauty  or  perfume  of  their  flowers  were  culti- 
vated, to  be  used  in  the  decoration  of  the  altars. 
Finally,  a  small  artificial  wood,  interspersed  with 
hills,  lakes,  and  rocks,  was  used  as  a  sacred 
hunting-ground. 

Among  the  chambers  in  the  great  temple, 
where  the  images  of  the  gods  and  the  imple- 
ments used  in  their  worship  were  kept,  were  two 
immense  rooms,  whose  proportions  surprised  the 
Spaniards.  But  the  building  that  appeared  to  be 
the  most  singular  to  them,  was  a  vast  prison  con- 
structed in  the  form  of  a  cage,  in  which  were 
placed  the  idols  of  conquered  nations. 

Numbers  of  ossuaries  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  conquerors.  In  some  (Cuauxicalii)  the 
bones  were  simply  piled  up  ;  in  the  others  (Tzotn- 
path)  the  skulls,  arranged  so  as  to  form  symmet- 
rical figures,  were  incrusted  in  the  walls,  with 
the  faces  projecting  therefrom ;  they  presented  a 
spectacle  even  more  repulsive  than  curious. 

The  largest  of  these  places,  situated,  according 
to  some  writers,  outside  of  the  wall  surrounding 
the  temple,  and  according  to  others,  but  a  short  dis- 
tance from  its  main  entrance  and  immediately  in 
front  of  it,  consisted  of  a  large  truncated  pyramid, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-four  feet  square  at  its  base. 
On  its  top,  which  was  reached  by  a  flight  of  thirty 


I48  THE    AZTECS. 

steps,  posts  were  placed  at  a  distance  of  four  feet 
from  one  another ;  these  posts  were  bored  with 
holes  throughout  their  whole  length,  in  which 
horizontal  bars  were  inserted,  which  were  laden 
with  skulls.  On  the  steps  other  skulls  appeared 
between  the  stones,  and  at  the  top  of  the  edi- 
fice two  towers  arose  made  of  skulls  and  mortar. 
Whenever  one  of  these  funereal  ornaments  be«;an 
to  decay,  the  priests  hastened  to  replace  it,  to 
keep  up  the  symmetry  of  the  whole.  The  skulls 
exposed  in  these  different  buildings  were  so  num- 
erous that  Andres  de  Tapia  relates  that  having 
counted  those  that  were  found  on  the  steps  and 
on  the  top  of  the  great  Tzompatli,  he  stopped  at 
the  figure  of  136,000. 

Doctor  Hamy  has  shown,  in  a  recent  work  of 
his  on  these  frightful  edifices,  that  Mexico  pos- 
sessed five  of  them,  —  the  Mixcoapan-Tzompatli, 
where  the  heads  of  victims  sacrificed  to  Mixcoatl 
were  placed;  the  Huei-Tzompatli,  which  has  just 
been  described  ;  the  Yopico-Tzompatli,  in  which 
were  arranged  the  skulls  of  victims  sacrificed  dur- 
ing the  feast  of  the  month  Tlacaxipehualitztli ; 
and  finally,  that  of  the  victims  offered  to  the  god 
of  the  merchants. 

Besides  the  temples  just  enumerated  there  were 
others  at  different  parts  of  the  city.  According 
to  many  authors  the  number  was  not  less  than 
two  thousand  ;  they  were  surmounted  by  three 
hundred  and  sixty  towers.  Of  this  number, 
ten  were  remarkable    on    account   of    their   size, 


LESSER   TEMPLES. 


149 


particularly   that    of     Tlatelolco,    consecrated    to 
Huitzilipochtli. 

Outside  of  the  capital,  where,  according  to  Tor- 
quemada,  all  the  religious  edifices  were  con- 
structed —  except  as  to  their  dimensions  —  upon 
the  model  of  the  great  Teocalli  of  Mexico,  the 
most  celebrated  temples  were  those  of  Tezcoco, 
Cholula,  and  Teotihuacan.  Bernal  Diaz,  who 
had  the  curiosity  to  count  the  steps  leading  to 
their  summits,  found  that  the  temple  of  Tezcoco 
had  one  hundred  and  seventeen,  and  that  of 
Cholula  one  hundred  and  twenty.  The  great 
temple  of  Cholula,  as  well  as  a  number  of  other 
temples  of  that  city,  was  dedicated  to  Quetzacoatl. 
Cortez,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  states  that  from  a  hill  overlooking  the 
city,  he  had  counted  four  hundred  towers  belong- 
ing to  religious  edifices.  Now  nothing  remains 
in  this  place  but  the  celebrated  pyramid  built  by 
the  Toltecs,  which,  like  a  number  of  construc- 
tions of  this  class,  is  falsely  attributed  to  the 
Aztecs. 

Near  Teotihuacan,  thirty  miles  from  Mexico, 
may  be  seen  the  half-buried  ruins  of  two  temples, 
which  served  as  models  for  the  construction  of  all 
those  of  the  country.  In  one  of  these  the  sun 
was  worshipped  ;  in  the  other,  the  moon.  These 
two  heavenly  bodies  were  represented  by  figures 
in  stone,  of  gigantic  size  and  covered  with  gold. 
The  idol  of  the  sun  had  a  cavity  in  the  breast,  in 
which  a  massive  golden   image  of  that  body  was 


150  THE   AZTECS. 

placed.     The  Spaniards  seized  the  precious  metal 
and  broke  the  figures. 

Around  these  two  structures  were  numerous 
hillocks  which  the  Indians  say  were  temples  con- 
secrated to  the  stars.  It  was  on  account  of  the 
number  of  these  religious  monuments  that  this 
place  was  formerly  called  Teotihuacan.  Torque- 
mada,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Indian  Monarchies," 
places  the  number  of  temples  in  the  territory  of 
Anahuac  at  forty  thousand,  without  including  the 
altars  built  on  mountain-tops,  in  the  heart  of  for- 
ests, or  on  the  highways,  for  the  purpose  of  excit- 
ing the  devotion  of  travellers,  and  of  honoring  the 
rural  deities. 

The  revenues  of  the  great  temple  of  Mexico 
and  of  the  other  temples  of  the  empire  were  very 
large  ;  each  of  them  owned  land,  and  serfs  for  its 
cultivation.  The  products  of  these  lands  served 
for  the  support  of  the  priests ;  they  also  furnished 
wood,  which  was  used  in  large  quantities  in  the 
sacrifices.  The  major-domos,  themselves  priests, 
often  visited  these  domains,  and  those  who  culti- 
vated them,  far  from  complaining  of  their  serfdom, 
considered  themselves  fortunate  in  being  able  to 
contribute,  by  their  exertions,  to  the  service  of  the 
gods,  and  to  the  welfare  of  their  ministers.  Be- 
sides the  resources  already  mentioned,  there  were 
the  first  fruits  of  the  crops,  offered  to  obtain  rain 
or  good  weather,  the  spontaneous  gifts  of  the 
cities.  Near  each  temple  were  storehouses  for 
the    preservation    of    provisions    given    to    the 


PRIESTS  AND  PRIESTESSES.        151 

priests.     The  surplus  was  distributed  among  the 
poor. 

The  multiplicity  of  the  Mexican  gods  required 
a  great  number  of  priests,  who  were  almost  as 
highly  venerated  as  the  divinities  they  served. 
When  we  remember  that  the  great  temple  of 
Mexico  sheltered  at  least  five  thousand,  and  that 
four  hundred  were  engaged  in  the  worship  of  Tez- 
catzoncatl,  the  Aztec  Bacchus,  we  may  believe  the 
historians  when  they  place  the  total  number  at  a 
million.  The  honors  that  were  paid  the  priests, 
the  respect  that  was  shown  them,  induced  young 
men  to  enter  the  sacerdotal  state.  The  nobles 
consecrated  their  children  to  the  service  of  the 
gods  for  a  stated  time,  and  their  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  lesser  nobility,  who  accepted  subor- 
dinate positions.  To  serve  the  gods  was,  among 
the  Aztecs,  to  honor  one's  caste,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  acquire  a  sign  of  distinction. 

The  priests  were  separated  from  each  other  by 
several  hierarchical  degrees.  The  first  of  the 
supreme  pontiffs — there  were  two  of  them  — 
bore  the  title  of  Teoteuctli  ( il  divine  lord  "),  and 
the  second  that  of  Hueiteopixqui  ("  high-priest  ") 
These  two  dignities  were  conferred  only  on  per- 
sons illustrious  by  birth,  or  on  account  of  their 
probity,  or  their  knowledge  of  the  religious  cere- 
monies. 

The  high-priests  were  oracles,  whom  the  kings 
consulted  at  critical  times,  and  war  was  never 
undertaken  without  their  consent.      It  was   they 


i52 


THE    AZTECS. 


who  consecrated  kings,  and  who  tore  the  heart 
from  the  human  victims  in  the  sacrifices.  The 
high-priest  of  Mexico  was  the  head  of  religion 
throughout  the  empire ;  but  the  nations  con- 
quered by  the  Aztecs,  with  a  political  genius  not 
inferior  to  that  of  the  Romans  on  this  point, 
preserved  their  own  worship. 

The  dignity  of  pontiff  was  conferred  by  elec- 
tion;  but  it  is  not  known  whether  the  electors 
were  priests  or  the  nobles  charged  with  the  elec- 
tion of  the  kings.  In  Mexico  the  badge  of  this 
dignity  consisted  of  a  tuft  of  cotton  attached  to 
the  breast.  During  the  feasts  the  emblems  of 
the  divinity  that  was  being  honored  were  worn  on 
the  luxurious  vestments  of  the  high-priest. 

Next  to  the  two  priestly  dignities  just  men- 
tioned, the  highest  was  that  of  Mexitliteohuatzin, 
which  the  high-priest  conferred.  The  duty  of 
this  minister  consisted  in  supervising  the  observ- 
ance of  the  rites  and  the  forms  in  religious  feasts. 
At  the  same  time  he  watched  over  the  conduct  of 
the  priests  placed  at  the  head  of  seminaries,  for 
the  purpose  of  punishing  those  who  neglected 
their  duties.  On  account  of  his  complicated 
functions  he  was  assisted  by  two  aids,  or  vicars, 
one  of  whom  held  the  office  of  superior-general 
of  seminaries.  As  a  badge,  the  first  of  these 
vicars  always  carried  a  bag  of  incense  on  his 
person. 

Next  in  the  hierarchical  order  came  the  Tlat- 
quimilolteuctli,  or  steward  of  the  sanctuary  ;  then 


PRIESTS  AND  PRIESTESSES.        153 

the  composer  of  hymns  sung  during  the  feasts, 
the  Ometochtli.  The  ordinary  priests  were  desig- 
nated by  the  name  of  Teopixqui  ("  minister  of 
God  "),  a  term  which  to-day  is  applied  to  Catholic 
priests.  In  each  quarter  of  Mexico  a  principal 
priest  directed  the  feasts  and  religious  acts. 

Among  the  priests  there  were  still  others,  called 
sacrificers,  diviners,  and  chanters ;  of  these  last, 
some  served  during  the  day  and  others  at  night. 
Next  came  those  charged  with  cleaning  the  tem- 
ple, ornamenting  the  altars,  educating  the  young, 
regulating  the  calendar,  and  finally  with  the  pro- 
duction of  mythological  paintings. 

Four  times  a  day — in  the  morning,  at  midday, 
in  the  evening,  and  at  midnight — the  priests 
were  required  to  incense  the  altars.  At  this  last 
hour  the  most  important  ministers  of  the  temple 
came  to  assist  the  one  that  was  keeping  watch. 
They  burned  incense  to  the  sun  four  times  dur- 
ing the  day,  and  five  times  during  the  night.  The 
perfumes  employed  were  liquid  sty  rax  {liquidam- 
bar  styracifliici),  and  copal  resin  {rims  copallina). 
At  certain  festivals  they  used  chapopotli,  —  a  sort 
of  bitumen  which  was  collected  on  the  shore  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  which  seems  to  come  from 
submarine  volcanoes.  The  censers  were  made 
of  clay,  or  at  times  of  gold,  provided  with  a 
handle,  and  were  similar  in  form  to  our  sauce- 
pans. Every  morning  the  priests  painted  their 
bodies  black  with  soot,  and  on  this  tin  v  traced 
designs  with  yellow  or  red  ochre.      At  evening 


154  THE   AZTECS. 

they  all  bathed  in  pools  within  the  enclosure  of 
the  temples. 

The  ordinary  dress  of  the  Aztec  priests  resem- 
bled that  of  the  other  citizens,  with  the  exception 
of  the  black  cotton  cap  which  they  wore.  Dur- 
ing the  ceremonies  they  wore  a  sort  of  mantle. 
They  allowed  their  hair  to  grow;  sometimes  it- 
descended  to  their  feet.  They  tied  it  up  with 
ribbons,  or  left  it  unconfined  and  daubed  it  with 
colors,  which  gave  them  a  hideous  appearance. 

Besides  the  paintings  with  ochre,  they  pre- 
pared others  for  the  sacrifices  that  took  place 
on  mountain-tops  or  in  dark  grottos.  Taking 
scorpions,  spiders,  worms,  small  vipers,  and  other 
repugnant  or  venomous  animals,  they  burned 
them  on  the  hearths  of  the  temple ;  then  they 
mixed  the  ashes  with  water,  soot,  tobacco,  and 
living  insects.  Having  presented  this  mixture  to 
the  gods,  they  smeared  their  bodies  with  it.  Thus 
covered  they  faced  all  dangers,  persuaded  that 
they  had  become  invulnerable,  and  that  they 
could  brave  the  teeth  of  wild  beasts  and  the 
mouths  of  serpents.  This  mixture,  which  was 
called  Teopatli  ("divine  medicine  "),  was  regarded 
as  a  remedy  for  all  diseases.  The  pupils  of  the 
seminaries  were  charged  with  collecting  the  ani- 
mals required  for  the  manufacture  of  this  strange 
ointment,  which  is  still  in  use  among  the  Indians. 
The  teopatli  was  also  used  in  enchantments,  and 
in  the  popular  mind  it  has  preserved  its  super- 
natural virtues  up  to  the  present  time. 


PRIESTS    AND   PRIESTESSES.  1 55 

The  Mexican  priests  led  an  austere  life  and 
fasted  frequently.  They  rarely  drank  fermented 
liquors,  and  never  became  intoxicated.  The  three 
hundred  and  three  ministers  of  Tezcatzoncatl, 
having  ended  the  song  by  which  they  invoked 
him,  placed  three  hundred  and  three  reeds  in  the 
immense  jar  which  was  always  kept  full  of  agave 
wine  by  his  devotees,  set  before  the  altar;  one 
alone  of  these  reeds  was  hollow.  The  priest  to 
whom  the  hollow  reed  fell  by  lot  had  a  right  to 
drink  the  fermented  liquor,  since  he  alone  could 
suck   it  up. 

During  the  days  when  duty  kept  them  in  the 
temple,  the  priests  avoided  meeting  all  women 
except  their  own  wives;  if  they  chanced  to  en- 
counter a  strange  woman,  they  passed  her  with 
eyes  downcast  in  order  not  to  see  her.  All  in- 
continence on  the  part  of  the  priests  was  severely 
punished.  At  Teotihuacan,  the  priest  convicted 
of  having  violated  the  laws  of  chastity  was  deliv- 
ered to  the  people,  and  beaten  to  death  with  sticks 
at  night.  At  Ichcatlan,  the  high-priest  was  re- 
quired to  live  in  the  temple,  and  abstain  from  all 
communication  with  women.  If,  unfortunately, 
he  failed  to  observe  this  rule,  he  was  killed,  and  his 
limbs  presented  to  his  successor,  as  a  warning. 

If  a  priest  did  not  get  up  to  assist  at  the  night 
services,  his  ears  and  lips  were  pierced,  or  his 
head  sprinkled  with  boiling  water.  ( )n  a  second 
offence,  he  was  expelled  from  the  temple,  and 
during  the  feast  of  the  god  of  waters,  was  drowned 


156  THE    AZTECS. 

in  a  lake.  Ordinarily  the  priests  lived  in  a  com- 
munity, under  the  surveillance  of  a  superior.  The 
sacerdotal  office  among  the  Aztecs  lasted  only  for 
a  stated  time,  at  the  end  of  which  the  priests 
retired  or  returned  again  to  civil  life,  to  occupy 
important  positions.  However,  some  of  them 
devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  gods  for 
their  entire  lives.  Women  were  admitted  to  the 
priesthood,  but  their  offices  were  limited  to  incens- 
ing the  idols,  keeping  up  the  sacred  fire,  sweeping 
the  temple,  preparing  the  provisions  for  offerings, 
and  presenting  them  at  the  altar;  they  could 
neither  sacrifice  to  the  gods  nor  aspire  to  the 
higher  dignities,  no  matter  what  their  capacity. 

Among  these  priestesses,  some  were  conse- 
crated to  the  religious  life  by  their  parents  from 
their  childhood,  while  others  bound  themselves 
voluntarily,  by  vows,  for  one  or  two  years,  either 
after  a  sickness,  or  to  make  a  good  marriage,  or  to 
interest  the  gods  in  the  welfare  of  their  families. 
The  consecration  of  the  first  was  practised  as 
follows:  At  the  birth  of  the  child  the  parents 
offered  it  to  the  divinity  whom  they  worshipped, 
and  advised  the  priest  of  their  district  of  this  act, 
who  communicated  it  to  the  Tepanteohuatzin,  or 
superior-general  of  seminaries.  Two  months 
afterwards  they  took  the  child  to  the  temple  and 
placed  a  passion-flower,  a  small  censer,  and  a  little 
incense  in  her  hand,  as  symbols  of  her  future 
occupations.  Every  month  this  ceremony  was 
repeated,  and  the  barks  of  trees  intended  for  the 


PRIESTS    AND    PRIESTESSES.  1 57 

sacred  fire  figured  in  it.  At  five  years  the  little 
girl  was  sent  to  the  Tepanteohuatzin,  who  placed 
her  in  a  seminary.  There  she  was  instructed  in 
the  rules  of  religion,  she  was  taught  how  to  con- 
duct herself,  and  to  busy  herself  with  work  suited 
to  her  sex.  In  regard  to  the  young  girls  who 
entered  a  seminary  in  consequence  of  a  vow,  they 
first  were  required  to  sacrifice  their  hair.  They 
all  lived  greatly  secluded,  in  quiet  and  meditation, 
under  the  surveillance  of  superiors.  Some  arose 
before  midnight,  others  after,  and  still  others  be- 
fore the  break  of  day,  to  keep  up  the  fire  and 
incense  the  idols.  Although  priests  assisted  at 
the  ceremony,  they  were  not  allowed  to  commu- 
nicate with  the  priestesses. 

Every  morning  these  latter  busied  themselves 
in  preparing  the  provisions  for  offerings,  and  in 
sweeping  the  aisles  of  the  temple.  When  their 
regular  duties  were  ended,  they  occupied  them- 
selves in  spinning  or  wreaving  rich  stuffs  to  clothe 
the  idols  and  ornament  the  altars.  The  chastity 
of  these  vestals  was  the  constant  object  of  the 
surveillance  of  their  superiors,  and  the  least  fault 
met  with  no  pardon. 

When  the  young  girl,  who  had  been  conse- 
crated to  the  worship  of  the  gods  since  her  child- 
hood, reached  her  seventeenth  year,  her  parents 
looked  for  a  husband  for  her.  When  they  had 
found  one,  they  presented  quails,  incense,  flowers 
and  edibles  on  a  handsome  dish  to  the  Tepante- 
ohuatzin, thanking  him  for  the  care  he  had  taken 


I58  THE    AZTECS. 

in  the  education  of  their  daughter,  and  asking 
permission  to  give  her  in  marriage.  The  high 
dignitary  generally  granted  the  request,  and  ex- 
horted his  pupil  to  a  complete  observance  of  the 
new  duties  she  was  about  to  take  upon  herself. 

Among  the  different  Mexican  religious  orders, 
—  there  were  some  for  women,  and  some  for 
men,  —  those  who  had  Ouetzacoatl  for  a  patron 
deserve  special  mention.  They  followed  a  most 
severe  life  ;  they  plunged  into  the  water  at  mid- 
night and  watched  almost  until  daylight,  singing 
hymns  or  performing  acts  of  penitence.  These 
priests  and  priestesses  had  a  right  to  betake 
themselves  at  all  times  to  the  forests,  and  to 
bleed  themselves,  —  a  privilege  which  they  enjoyed 
by  reason  of  their  great  reputation  for  sanctity. 
The  superiors  of  these  convents  bore  the  name 
of  the  god  they  served,  and  paid  no  visits  except 
to  the  king. 

The  members  of  this  order  were  consecrated  to 
Ouetzacoatl  from  their  birth,  and  the  father  who 
intended  his  son  for  the  worship  of  that  god  in- 
vited the  superior  of  the  convent  to  dinner.  The 
latter  sent  one  of  the  monks  in  his  stead  to  the 
house,  and  the  child  was  presented  to  him.  The 
monk,  taking  the  little  creature  in  his  arms,  of- 
fered it  to  Ouetzacoatl,  pronouncing  a  prayer,  and 
placing  about  its  neck  a  collar  called  yanueli, 
which  the  child  had  to  wear  until  its  seventh 
year.  At  the  end  of  its  second  year  the  child 
was    conducted    to    the   superior,   who    made    an 


RELIGIOUS    ORDERS. 


159 


incision  in  his  breast,  which,  with  the  collar,  was 
a  sign  of  consecration.  At  the  age  of  seven  years 
he  entered  the  seminary,  after  having  first  listened 
to  a  long  moral  discourse,  in  which  he  was  re- 
minded of  the  vow  which  had  bound  him  to  Ouet- 
zacoatl,  and  in  which  he  was  exhorted  to  conduct 
himself  carefully,  and  to  pray  for  his  relatives  and 
for  the  nation. 

Another  order,  called  Telpochtilztli  ("  reunion 
of  children  ")  was  consecrated  to  Tezcatlipoca. 
Children  were  bound  to  this  supreme  god  by 
ceremonies  similar  to  those  just  described,  but 
they  did  not  live  in  a  community.  In  each  quar- 
ter of  the  city,  at  sunset,  they  were  called  together 
by  a  superior  to  dance,  and  then  to  sing  the  praises 
of  the  gods. 

Among  the  Totonacs  was  a  brotherhood  de- 
voted to  the  worship  of  the  goddess  Centeotl,  the 
members  of  which  led  a  most  austere  life.  Only 
men  of  sixty  years  of  age,  who  were  widowers  and 
of  good  habits,  could  enter  this  order.  Their 
number  was  limited  ;  and  not  only  the  people, 
but  the  highest  personages,  the  high-priest  in- 
cluded, came  to  consult  them.  Seated  on  a 
bench,  they  listened  to  the  questions  addressed  to 
them,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground,  and 
their  replies  were  received  as  oracles,  even  by  the 
kings  of  Mexico.  These  monks  employed  their 
leisure  in  producing  historical  paintings,  which 
they  sent  to  the  high-priest,  that  he  might  show 
them  to  the  people. 


l6o  THE   AZTECS. 

The  Aztec  priests  were  generally  of  a  literary 
character  ;  and  their  austere  life  and  their  knowl- 
edge increased  the  influence  which  they  owed  to 
their  sacred  character.  The  Spanish  mission- 
aries, in  spite  of  their  prejudices,  have  always 
done  justice  to  their  morality  and  their  chastity. 
They  regarded  them  as  men  blinded  by  the  devil, 
and  not  as  impostors. 

Although  the  external  worship  of  the  Aztecs 
was  sanguinary,  its  similarities  with  many  of  the 
customs  of  the  Catholic  Church  struck  the  Span- 
iards from  the  first.  The  cross  of  Tlaloc,  the 
baptism  of  the  new-born,  the  auricular  confession, 
the  vows  of  chastity,  the  monastic  orders,  etc., 
led  the  first  missionaries  to  believe  that  the  gos- 
pel had  been  preached  in  Anahuac  at  the  time  of 
the  origin  of  Christianity  ;  and  in  Ouetzacoatl, 
who  taught  charity,  gentleness,  and  peace,  they 
thought  they  saw  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Modern  science  has  dispelled  these  illusions,  as 
well  as  those  that  ascribe  an  Egyptian,  a  Euro- 
pean, or  a  Hindoo  origin  to  the  people  of  Mexico. 
The  Chichimecs,  the  Toltecs,  and  the  Aztecs 
were  at  least  American  peoples,  even  if  they  were 
not  autochthons.  As  to  their  civilizers,  they  can- 
not rationally  be  ranked  among  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  but  possibly  they  may  have  been  sectaries 
of  Buddha. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Human  Sacrifices.  —  Offerings.  —  Gladiatorial  Combats. 
—  Number  of  Victims  Sacrificed  Annually. —  Feast  of 
Fire.  —  Feasts  of  Tezcatlipoca  and  of  Huitzilipoch- 
tli.  —  Penitences. 

IT  is  not  known  what  sort  of  sacrifices  the  Tol- 
tecs  offered  to  their  gods ;  as  to  the  Chichi- 
mecs,  they  remained  a  long  time  without  temples, 
and  presented  nothing  to  the  objects  they  wor- 
shipped —  the  sun  and  the  moon  —  but  flowers, 
fruits,  and  incense.  None  of  the  peoples  of 
Anahuac,  moreover,  had  any  idea  of  human 
sacrifices  until  the  Aztecs  furnished  them  with 
the  deplorable  example. 

Among  the  latter  the  sacrifices  varied,  accord- 
ing to  the  god  that  was  being  honored,  in  the 
number  of  the  victims  as  well  as  in  the  manner 
they  were  killed.  In  most  cases  the  breast  of  the 
unhappy  being  doomed  to  die  was  opened ;  but 
others  were  burned,  drowned,  flayed,  or  con- 
demned to  die  of  hunger  in  the  grottos  where  the 
dead  were  buried.  Others,  small  in  number,  fell 
in  the  duels  the  Spaniards  called  gladiatorial 
combats.  Generally,  these  atrocious  acts  were 
committed   in   temples,  for  they  all  had  an  altar 

set  aside  for   these   religious  murders.     That  of 

1 1 


l62  THE    AZTECS. 

the  temple  of  Mexico,  called  "  techcatl,"  was  a 
block  of  green  jasper,  its  upper  surface  convex, 
three  feet  high  and  five  feet  long. 

The  ordinary  ministers  of  sacrifice  were  six  in 
number ;  they  inherited  their  office.  The  chief 
among  them  was  called  Topiltzin ;  but  at  the 
moment  he  was  performing  his  terrible  functions 
he  took  the  name  of  the  god  to  whom  he  was 
sacrificing.  He  wore  a  red  vestment,  suggestive 
of  the  scapular,  ornamented  with  cotton  fringe. 
On  his  head  he  had  a  crown  of  green  and  yellow 
feathers  ;  from  his  ears  emeralds  were  suspended, 
and  from  his  lower  lip  a  feather  or  "  tentetl,"  of  a 
blue  color.  The  others  were  clothed  in  white 
robes  bordered  with  black.  Their  hair  was  di- 
shevelled, and  their  foreheads  were  bound  with 
ribbons  ornamented  with  round  bits  of  various 
colored  papyrus.  Their  entire  body  was  painted 
black,  except  around  the  mouth,  which  they 
daubed  with   white. 

Once  in  possession  of  a  victim,  these  execution- 
ers carried  him  naked  to  a  grand  altar  {techcatl), 
on  which  they  extended  him,  having  first  indi- 
cated to  the  assistants  the  idol  to  which  they  were 
about  to  offer  the  sacrifice,  so  that  they  might 
adore  it.  Four  of  the  priests  then  held  the  un- 
happy being  still  by  the  legs  and  arms,  while 
another  kept  him  from  moving  his  head,  with  the 
aid  of  an  instrument  of  wood  or  stone,  made  in 
the  form  of  a  horse-shoe,  and  sometimes  repre- 
senting a  curved  serpent.     The  stone  of  the  altar 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES.  163 

being  convex,  the  body  was  bent  in  an  arch,  with 
the  breast  and  stomach  prominent,  and  the  victim 
could  make  no  resistance.  The  Topiltzin  then 
approached,  and,  with  a  knife  of  jasper  or  chalce- 
dony, in  accordance  with  the  rite,  opened  the 
breast  of  the  prisoner,  tore  out  his  heart,  offered 
the  palpitating"  trophy  to  the  sun,  and  then  threw 
it  to  the  feet  of  the  idol  to  burn  it  and  to  contem- 
plate its  ashes  with  veneration.  If  the  idol  was 
large  and  hollow,  they  placed  the  bleeding  heart 
in  its  mouth  with  the  aid  of  a  golden  spoon, 
and  daubed  its  lips  with  the  blood.  When  the 
victim  was  a  prisoner-of-war,  they  cut  off  his 
head  to  preserve  it  for  the  Tzompatli,  and  the 
body  was  then  thrown  on  the  lower  step  of  the 
temple.  There,  the  officer  or  soldier  who  had 
captured  him  seized  the  prey,  carried  it  away, 
had  it  cooked,  and  served  it  to  his  friends  at  a 
banquet.  They  ate  only  the  thighs,  the  arms,  and 
the  breast.  As  to  the  trunk,  it  was  reduced  to 
ashes  or  given  as  food  to  the  animals  of  the  royal 
menagerie.  The  Otomites  quartered  the  victim 
and  sold  the  remains  in  the  market.  Among  the 
Zapotecs  men  were  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  women 
to  the  goddesses,  and  children  to  the  inferior  dei- 
ties. Let  us  add,  however,  that  although  anthro- 
pophagi from  religious  sentiment,  and  not  from 
taste,  the  Aztecs  were  never  cannibals. 

We  have  just  described  the  ordinary  manner 
of  sacrifices,  but  sometimes  they  were  marked  by 
still   more  refined  cruelty.     For  example,  at  the 


164  THE   AZTECS. 

feast  of  Teoteoinan,  the  woman  who  represented 
this  goddess  was  beheaded  while  another  woman 
carried  her  on  her  shoulders.  During  the  feast 
spoken  of  as  "the  arrival  of  the  gods,"  the  victims 
were  burned.  At  one  of  the  feasts  of  Tlaloc  two 
children  of  each  sex  were  drowned  ;  in  another 
two  children  of  six  or  seven  years  were  bought, 
and  then  the  two  innocents  were  shut  up  in  a 
cave,  where  they  were  suffered  to  die  of  fright  or 
hunger. 

The  so-called  sacrifice  "  of  the  gladiators  "  was 
very  honorable,  but  only  prisoners  celebrated  for 
their  valor  had  a  right  to  it.  Near  the  temple  of 
the  large  cities  there  was  an  open  space,  in  the 
middle  of  which  was  a  round  platform,  eight  feet 
high,  upon  which  was  placed  a  block  like  a  mill- 
stone. On  this  stone,  called  "  temalacatl,"  which 
has  been  mentioned  before,  the  prisoner  was 
placed,  armed  with  a  shield  and  a  short  sword, 
and  tied  by  one  foot.  An  officer  or  a  soldier, 
fully  equipped,  then  mounted  the  stone  to  fight 
with  the  prisoner.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  des- 
perate efforts  of  the  unhappy  creature  to  escape 
death,  and  the  exertions  of  his  adversary  to  sus- 
tain his  military  reputation  before  his  assembled 
countrymen.  If  the  prisoner  was  overcome,  a 
minister  of  sacrifice  hastened,  and,  dead  or  alive, 
carried  him  to  the  sacrificial  stone  to  open  his 
breast  and  tear  out  his  heart.  The  victor,  ap- 
plauded by  the  crowd,  was  rewarded  with  a  mili- 
tary badge.      If  on  the  contrary  the  captive  was 


GLADIATORIAL   COMBATS.  165 

victorious,  not  alone  over  this  antagonist  but  six 
others,  his  liberty  was  restored  to  him,  his  arms 
were  given  back,  and  he  returned  to  his  country 
in  triumph.  The  anonymous  Conqueror,  who 
furnishes  these  details,  relates  that  in  a  battle  be- 
tween the  Cholulans  and  their  neighbors,  the 
Huexotzincos,  the  principal  lord  of  Cholula 
rushed  so  far  forward  in  the  fight  that,  separ- 
ated from  his  companions,  he  was  made  a  prisoner. 
Placed  upon  the  temalacatl,  he  vanquished  the 
seven  combatants  opposed  to  him.  The  Huex- 
otzincos, fearing  the  punishment  which  such  a 
valiant  enemy  could  inflict  upon  them  if  they  let 
him  free,  killed  him, — an  action  which  covered 
them  with  infamy  in  the  eyes  of  the  neighboring 
peoples. 

In  these  combats,  it  must  be  said,  the  prisoner 
rarely  escaped  death  ;  for  when  he  fought  with  too 
great  courage,  a  soldier  accustomed  to  use  his 
weapons  with  his  left  hand  was  set  against  him, 
and  he  soon  confused  and  overcame  the  prisoner. 
Thus,  to  escape  the  torture  of  a  struggle  which 
they  knew  in  advance  to  be  useless,  many  of  the 
prisoners  refused  to  defend  themselves,  and  of- 
fered their  breast  to  the  sacriflccrs.  These  gladia- 
torial combats  always  drew  a  crowd,  and  excited 
it.  These  sanguinary  days  generally  ended  with 
feasts  and  dances. 

In  regard  to  the  number  of  victims  annually 
sacrificed  in  Anahuac,  historians  differ  widely. 
Nevertheless,  without  departing  very  far  from  the 


1 66  THE    AZTECS. 

truth,  the  number  can  be  placed  at  twenty  thous- 
and. The  number  of  sacrifices  depended  upon 
the  number  of  prisoners  taken  in  battle ;  in  war 
the  Mexican  soldiers  were  more  anxious  to  secure 
their  enemies  alive  than  to  kill  them. 

Generally,  the  victims  were  muffled  in  the 
clothing  and  insignia  of  the  idol  to  which  they 
were  to  be  offered.  An  escort  of  soldiers  led 
them  thus  dressed  about  the  city,  and  collected 
alms  for  the  temple.  If  the  prisoner  escaped,  the 
chief  of  the  escort  was  sacrificed  in  his  stead. 

Besides  men,  the  Mexicans  also  sacrificed  ani- 
mals. They  offered  partridges  and  falcons  to 
Huitzilipochtli;  hares,  rabbits,  and  foxes  to  Mix- 
coatl.  Each  morning  a  certain  number  of  priests, 
holding  a  partridge  in  the  hand  watched  the  sun 
rise.  When  scarcely  above  the  horizon  it  was 
saluted  with  the  sound  of  noisy  musical  instru- 
ments, and  the  birds,  immediately  decapitated, 
were  offered  to  it. 

Plants,  fine  stones,  and  incense  also  served  as 
offerings.  The  first  flowers  were  presented  to 
Tlaloc  and  to  Coatlicue,  and  the  first  ears  of  corn 
to  Centeotl.  The  offerings  of  food,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  sufficient  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
priests ;  for  every  morning  the  altars  were  laden 
by  the  faithful  with  steaming  meats,  so  that  the 
vapor,  mounting  to  the  nostrils  of  the  idols,  might 
nourish  the  gods  they  represented. 

However,  the  most  frequent  offering  was  in- 
cense, and  every  house  possessed  a  censer.     The 


FEAST   OF    FIRE.  1 67 

Aztecs  incensed  their  idols,  the  priests,  the  four 
cardinal  points,  the  fathers  of  family,  and  the 
judges  in  the  courts,  especially  when  they  were 
about  to  pronounce  sentence.  Thus  this  was  an 
act  of  homage  paid  to  the  powerful,  rather  than 
an  act  of  religion. 

The  cruelties  and  superstitions  of  the  Mexicans 
were  imitated,  not  only  by  all  the  nations  they 
subjugated,  but  also  by  their  neighbors,  who, 
however,  practised  them  less  frequently.  The 
Tlaxcaltecs,  at  one  of  their  feasts,  attached  a 
prisoner  to  a  high  cross  and  killed  him  with 
arrows ;  at  other  times  the  cross  was  low,  and 
the  victim  was  beaten  to  death  with  sticks. 

The  great  feast  of  the  "  renewal  of  the  fire " 
began  the  last  day  of  the  cycle,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  composed  of  fifty-two  years.  In  the 
evening  the  fire  was  extinguished  in  the  temples 
and  in  the  houses ;  then  all  the  earthen  utensils 
were  broken,  as  a  preparation  for  the  end  of  the 
world.  At  this  time  every  one  was  in  a  terrible 
state  of  suspense,  fearing  he  had  seen  the  light  of 
day  for  the  last  time,  doubting  whether  the  sun 
would  rise  the  next  day,  or  whether  it  would  not 
leave  the  heavens  lost  in  darkness.  The  whole 
empire  was  a  prey  to  this  anxiety,  and  the  peo- 
ple stood  on  the  towers  of  the  temples,  and  on 
the  roofs  of  their  houses,  in  silence,  watching  the 
tops  of  the  mountains  where  immense  bonfires 
would  be  lighted  if  the  gods  showed  themselves 
merciful. 


1 68  THE   AZTECS. 

At  an  appointed  hour  the  priests,  wearing  the 
ornaments  of  the  god  they  served,  and  carrying 
besides  one  of  his  images,  directed  themselves, 
followed  by  an  excited  and  terrified  multitude, 
towards  Mount  Huitzachtla,  which  is  about  two 
and  a  half  miles  from  Mexico.  They  advanced, 
measuring  their  progress  by  the  march  of  the 
stars,  so  that  they  might  arrive  at  the  mountain  a 
little  before  midnight.  One  of  them,  belonging 
to  the  suburb  of  Capulco,  had  the  privilege  of 
producing  a  new  fire;  hence  he  marched,  pro- 
vided with  an  instrument  made  of  two  pieces  of 
dry  wood  fitted  together,  called  "  tletaxoni."  The 
solemn  hour  having  arrived,  this  priest  ap- 
proached a  victim  of  noble  origin,  whose  heart 
had  just  been  torn  out,  placed  on  the  wound  his 
instrument  for  striking  fire,  and  imparted  a  rap- 
idly rotating  movement  to  one  of  its  branches. 
Soon  sparks  leaped  forth,  and  a  loud  cry  of  joy 
escaped  from  every  one ;  for  the  sight  of  these 
sparks  announced  that  day  would  again  appear, 
that  the  sun  would  again  brighten  the  earth  for 
a  period  of  fifty-two  years. 

As  soon  as  fire  was  produced,  an  immense 
funeral  pile  was  ignited,  on  which  the  sacrificed 
victim  was  thrown.  An  extraordinary  activity 
succeeded  the  despondency  of  the  last  hours. 
Every  one  hastened  to  light  the  torch  with  which 
he  had  provided  himself,  and  then  to  regain 
his  dwelling.  Couriers  bearing  the  sacred  fire 
spread  in  all  directions,  lighting  the  torches  of  all 


FEAST   OF    FIRE.  1 69 

those  who  waited  for  them  on  the  roads ;  the 
latter  in  turn  performed  the  same  service  for 
those  whom  they  met.  The  fire  was  carried  in 
all  directions,  and  torches  and  bonfires  were 
lighted  everywhere.  This  new  fire,  transmitted 
from  place  to  place,  served  to  relight  the  hearths, 
to  the  very  confines  of  the  empire. 

During  this  time,  the  priests  having  returned 
to  the  great  temple,  placed  a  brazier  before  the 
altar  of  Huitzilipochtli,  —  a  brazier  to  which  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  came  to  light  pine 
branches.  They  laughed,  sang,  and  congratulated 
each  other,  for  they  had  still  fifty-two  years  more 
to  live !  Hence  the  thirteen  days  complement- 
ary to  the  cycle  —  intended  to  make  the  solar 
and  civil  years  agree  —  were  employed  in  repair- 
ing the  buildings,  whitewashing  the  houses, 
and  mending  the  furniture  and  clothing,  so  that 
everything  might  be  new,  or  at  least  so  in  appear- 
ance, on  the  day  when  the  new  cycle  began.  On 
that  day,  illuminations,  dances,  and  banquets  con- 
soled the  people  for  the  bitter  hours  they  had 
passed,  and  numerous  victims  covered  the  steps 
of  the  temples  with  their  blood. 

Let  us  note,  as  a  singular  superstition,  that  on 
the  last  night  of  the  cycle,  pregnant  women  were 
shut  up  in  the  granaries  by  their  husbands,  and 
their  faces  were  covered  with  leaves  of  the  agave. 
By  this  means  it  was  thought  they  would  escape 
being  transformed  into  deer.  The  children's 
faces  were    covered  with   masks,  and    they  were 


170 


THE   AZTECS. 


prevented  from  going  to  sleep,  in  the  fear  that 
they  would  be  metamorphosed  into  mice. 

The  sacrifices  which  the  inhabitants  of  Cu- 
auhtitlan  offered  every  four  years  to  the  god  of 
fire  were  thus  celebrated :  The  terrible  day  hav- 
ing arrived,  they  planted  six  large  trees  at  the 
foot  of  the  altar,  killed  two  women,  tore  off  their 
skins,  and  removed  their  thigh-bones.  The  fol- 
lowing day  two  priests  took  possession  of  these 
trophies.  Carrying  the  bones  in  their  hands,  they 
slowly  descended  the  steps  of  the  temple,  uttering 
sharp  cries ;  to  which  the  people  replied,  "  See, 
our  gods  are  approaching."  Having  reached  the 
last  step,  the  priests,  while  drums  were  beating, 
were  decked  with  paper  wings,  and  then  headless 
partridges  were  placed  in  their  mouths.  There- 
upon they  began  a  dance,  which  did  not  end 
until  nightfall,  during  which  the  people  some- 
times killed  as  many  as  eight  thousand  par- 
tridges. These  ceremonies  over,  the  priests 
suspended  six  prisoners  to  the  tops  of  the  trees, 
and  these  unhappy  beings  became  targets  for 
thousands  of  arrows.  When  they  were  dead  the 
priests  let  the  bodies  drop,  and  removed  their 
hearts.  The  remains  of  these  victims,  as  well  as 
the  bodies  of  the  partridges,  were  divided  among 
the  priests  and  nobles,  and  they  constituted  one 
of  the  dishes  of  the  banquet  which  ended  the 
feast. 

The  peoples  of  Anahuac  treated  themselves 
also  with  the  greatest  cruelty;  accustomed  from 


SELF-TORTURE.  171 

their  childhood  to  see  blood  spilled,  they  shed 
their  own  in  profusion.  The  penances  they  im- 
posed on  themselves,  either  in  expiation  of  a 
sin,  or  to  prepare  themselves  to  celebrate  the 
feasts  of  their  gods,  cause  a  shudder.  They  mar- 
tyred their  bodies  as  if  they  had  no  feeling,  and 
shed  their  blood  as  if  it  were  a  superfluous 
liquid,  says  Clavigero. 

Some  priests  bled  themselves  daily.  With  the 
aid  of  thorns  from  the  agave,  they  pierced  their 
lips,  their  tongues,  their  arms,  and  the  calves  of 
their  legs.  In  the  wounds  produced  by  these 
punctures  they  introduced  bamboo  twigs,  the  size 
of  which  they  gradually  increased.  The  blood 
was  collected  on  leaves  of  a  species  of  palm,  and 
the  thorns  were  planted  in  balls  of  hay  that  were 
exposed  in  the  temple.  Those  who  suffered  these 
mutilations  bathed  themselves  in  a  pool  which  was 
called  "  Ezapan,"  because  its  waters  were  always 
dyed  with  blood. 

Fasts  were  frequent  among  the  Mexicans;  on 
these  occasions  they  abstained  from  fermented 
drinks  and  meat,  and  ate  but  once  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  Some  of  these  fasts  were  obligatory 
for  the  people,  —  such,  for  example,  as  the  five 
days'  fast  that  preceded  the  feast  of  Tezcatlipoca, 
and  the  feast  of  the  sun.  During  these  days 
the  king  retired  to  a  temple  to  bleed  himself, 
in  accordance  with  the  national  custom. 

There  were  other  special  fasts,  such  as  the  fast 
of  the   owners  of  the   victims,  which   took  place 


172  THE   AZTECS. 

on  the  eve  of  the  day  they  were  to  be  sacrificed. 
The  masters  of  prisoners-of-war  that  were  to  be 
sacrificed  to  Xipe  fasted  for  forty  days.  The 
nobles,  as  well  as  the  king,  had  special  apart- 
ments in  the  temple,  where  they  did  penance; 
and  on  certain  occasions  all  the  public  employees, 
after  their  work,  had  to  pass  the  night  in  one  of 
these  retreats. 

In  the  principal  temple  of  Teotihuacan,  lived 
four  priests  celebrated  for  the  austerity  of  their 
life.  Clothed  like  poor  people,  they  ate  nothing 
but  a  two-ounce  loaf  of  Indian  corn-bread  each 
day,  and  drank  a  single  cup  of  atolli,  —  a  sort 
of  soup  made  from  corn,  which  the  Indians  still 
make.  Every  night  two  of  them  watched,  sing- 
ing hymns,  incensing  the  idols,  and  sprinkling  a 
little  of  their  blood  on  the  altars.  They  led  this 
life  of  fasting  for  four  years,  with  no  other  respite 
than  a  certain  feast-day  each  month,  on  which 
they  might  eat  whatever  they  liked.  On  the  eve 
of  a  religious  ceremony  these  fanatics  perforated 
their  ears  with  agave-thorns,  and  inserted  pieces 
of  bamboo  in  the  wounds.  If  one  of  them  died 
a  candidate  took  his  place.  Finally,  the  time  of 
penitence  having  passed,  four  new  priests  imme- 
diately began  the  same  life.  The  renown  of 
these  ascetics  was  so  great  that  even  the  kings 
showed  them  respect.  But  woe  to  one  of  them 
who  failed  in  his  duties!  He  was  beaten  to 
death  ;  his  body  was  burned,  and  his  ashes  thrown 
to  the  winds. 


FEAST   OF   TEZCATLIPOCA.  I  73 

In  public  calamities,  the  high-priest  of  Mexico 
condemned  himself  to  an  extraordinary  fast.  He 
retired  to  the  heart  of  a  forest,  and  lived  in  a 
cabin  of  boughs  that  were  renewed  as  they  with- 
ered. Deprived  of  all  communication  with  his 
kind,  with  no  other  food  than  raw  maize  and 
water,  he  passed  a  year  there,  at  intervals  shed- 
dins:  his  blood. 

One  of  the  four  oreat  Aztec  feasts  was  that  of 
Tezcatlipoca.  Ten  days  before  its  date,  a  priest, 
decked  in  the  vestments  of  the  idol,  came  out  of 
the  temple,  carrying  a  bouquet  in  his  hand,  and 
blowing  a  flageolet  made  of  terra  cotta,  which 
gave  forth  shrill  sounds.  Having  saluted  the 
four  cardinal  points,  commencing  with  the  east, 
the  priest  blew  his  instrument  louder,  then  he 
picked  up  a  little  earth  which  he  placed  in  his 
mouth  and  swallowed.  All  knelt  when  they 
heard  the  sounds  of  the  flute,  and,  full  of  terror, 
those  who  had  committed  a  crime  prayed  the  god 
to  pardon  their  sin,  and  not  to  allow  it  to  be  dis- 
covered ;  thus  their  zeal  and  fear  betrayed  them. 
At  the  same  time  the  soldiers  asked  for  strength 
and  valor  to  overcome  the  enemy,  and  to  take 
many  prisoners.  At  a  stated  time  all  the  people 
repeated  the  act  of  swallowing  earth,  and  implored 
the  protection  of  the  gods. 

The  sound  of  the  flageolet  was  heard  every 
day  until  the  hour  at  which  the  feast  began.  On 
the  evening  before,  the  nobles  brought  a  new  dress 
to  the  idol,  which  the  priest  immediately  put  on  it ; 


174  THE   AZTECS. 

the  old  one  was  placed  in  a  chest  and  preserved  as 
a  relic.  Besides  this  new  dress,  they  decked  the 
god  with  badges  of  gold,  silver,  and  feathers ;  the 
curtain  that  generally  hung  before  the  entrance 
to  the  temple  was  raised,  so  that  all  the  faithful 
could  see  and  worship  the  god. 

On  the  day  of  the  feast,  not  only  did  the  slaves 
temporarily  recover  their  liberty ;  but  for  fear  of 
displeasing  the  god,  their  masters  abstained  from 
abusing  them,  even  by  word.  The  sun  having 
risen,  the  people  assembled  on  the  lower  step  of 
the  temple.  A  number  of  priests,  painted  black, 
clothed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  idol,  carried 
it  on  a  litter.  Young  people  of  both  sexes  sur- 
rounded his  neck  with  a  long  cord  ornamented 
with  grains  of  parched  corn  strung  on  threads 
and  forming  a  wreath.  This  garland,  a  symbol  of 
the  dryness  so  feared  by  the  Mexicans,  was 
called  "  Toxcatl,"  —  a  name  which  became  that  of 
the  month  during  which  the  feast  was  celebrated. 

Bearing  these  wreaths  in  the  hand  and  about 
the  neck,  the  young  people  and  the  nobles 
marched  in  procession  around  the  temple,  the 
pavement  of  which  was  strewn  with  flowers  and 
odoriferous  herbs.  The  statue  was  then  replaced 
on  the  altar,  and  was  offered  gold,  jewels,  flowers, 
feathers,  animals,  and  eatables,  prepared  by  the 
women  or  young  girls,  who,  on  that  day,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  vow,  filled  the  office  of  servants  of 
the  god  The  young  girls,  led  by  a  priest 
clothed  in  a  strange  fashion,  brought  food  which 


FEAST   OF   TEZCATLIPOCA.  I  75 

the  young  men  distributed.  Finally,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  sacrifice  of  the  victim  who  repre- 
sented the  god  Tezcatlipoca,  a  victim  chosen  from 
among  the  young  prisoners  who  were  most  re- 
markable for  their  physical  qualities.  Destined, 
a  year  in  advance,  to  die,  this  young  man  from 
that  day  wore  the  same  vestments  as  the  idol. 
He  went  about  the  city  at  his  pleasure,  but 
always  escorted  by  guards  ;  and  he  was  adored  as 
the  image  of  the  supreme  divinity.  Twenty  days 
before  the  feast,  the  unhappy  being  was  married 
to  four  young  girls,  and  during  the  last  five  days 
he  was  procured  all  the  pleasures  possible. 

On  the  morning  of  the  feast  he  was  conducted 
to  the  temple  in  great  pomp,  and  a  few  minutes 
before  arriving  there  he  took  leave  of  his  wives. 
He  accompanied  the  idol  in  the  procession  just 
described ;  then  the  hour  of  sacrifice  having 
come,  he  was  extended  before  the  altar,  where  the 
high-priest,  with  a  show  of  respect,  opened  his 
breast  and  took  out  his  heart.  His  body  was  not 
thrown  from  the  top  of  the  steps,  like  that  of 
other  victims,  but  was  carried  to  the  temple  and 
decapitated.  The  skull  was  placed  in  the  Tzom- 
patli,  with  those  of  the  unfortunate  beings  who 
had  preceded  him.  His  arms  and  thighs, 
cooked  and  seasoned,  were  placed  on  the  table 
of  the  nobles. 

After  the  sacrifice,  the  members  of  the  semi- 
naries and  the  priests  engaged  in  a  dance,  which 
lasted  until  sunset ;  while  the  young  girls  carried 


176  THE   AZTECS. 

the  idol  fruits  ornamented  with  skulls,  and  corn- 
bread  kneaded  with  honey.  The  bread  and  fruits 
placed  before  the  altar  served  as  prizes  for  the 
young  men  who  were  victorious  in  a  race  which 
took  place  on  the  stairways  of  the  temple.  This, 
however,  was  not  their  only  reward ;  they  were 
dressed  in  rich  garments,  and  were  cheered  by  the 
priests  and  the  people.  The  feast  was  ended  by 
restoring  to  liberty  the  members  of  the  semina- 
ries, of  both  sexes,  who  had  reached  a  marriage- 
able age.  Those  who  remained  in  the  seminary 
heaped  outrageous  ridicule  on  their  old  compan- 
ions, showered  them  with  arrows  made  of  reeds, 
and  reproached  them  for  giving  up  the  service 
of  the  gods  for  the  pleasures  of  matrimony.  The 
priests  permitted  these  excesses  as  an  outlet  for 
the  natural  effervescence  of  youth. 

During  the  same  month  the  first  feast  of 
Huitzilipochtli  was  celebrated.  His  priests  first 
made  a  statue  of  the  god  as  large  as  a  man. 
They  represented  the  bones  by  acacia  wood,  and 
the  flesh  by  means  of  a  paste  composed  of  seeds 
and  blood  mixed  together.  As  soon  as  the  figure 
was  finished,  it  was  dressed  in  clothes  made  of 
cotton  or  agave-fibre,  and  covered  with  a  cloak 
made  of  feathers.  They  placed  a  paper  parasol, 
ornamented  with  feathers  and  surmounted  with  a 
bloody  knife  of  flint,  over  his  head,  and  on  his 
breast  a  plate  of  gold.  All  the  vestments  of  the 
image  were  covered  with  designs  representing 
bones    and    various  parts    of    the    human     body, 


FEAST   OF   HUITZILIPOCHTLI. 


177 


either  to  pay  homage  to  the  power  of  the  god  in 
battle,  or  to  recall  the  terrible  vengeance  inflicted 
by  him  on  those  who  had  conspired  against  the 
honor  and  life  of  his  mother. 

The  statue,  afterwards  placed  on  a  litter  sup- 
ported by  four  wooden  serpents,  was  carried  from 
the  place  where  it  had  been  made,  to  the  altar, 
by  the  four  most  renowned  officers  of  the  army. 
A  number  of  young  people,  forming  a  circle  with 
the  aid  of  arrows  which  some  held  by  the  points 
and  others  by  the  shafts,  preceded  the  litter, 
bearing  a  sort  of  placard  on  which  were  repre- 
sented the  glorious  actions  of  the  god,  —  actions 
which  were  celebrated  at  the  same  time  with 
hymns. 

The  day  of  the  feast  having  arrived,  in  the 
morning  a  number  of  partridges  were  beheaded 
and  their  bodies  thrown  to  the  foot  of  the  altar. 
The  king  was  the  first  to  sacrifice  a  bird  ;  he  was 
immediately  imitated  by  the  priests  and  the  peo- 
ple. All  this  game  was  afterwards  placed  on  the 
table  of  the  king  and  of  the  priests.  The  faithful, 
armed  with  earthen  censers,  burned  perfumes  in 
honor  of  the  gods  and  collected  the  ashes  in  a 
grate  called  "  Tlexictli." 

After  this  ceremony,  which  caused  the  name  of 

"  incensing  of  Huitzilipochtli  "  to  be  given  to  the 

feast,  the  young  girls    and   the   priests    danced. 

The  former  painted  their  faces,  ornamented  their 

arms    with    feathers,   crowned     themselves    with 

chaplets    of  maize,    and    carried    in    their   hands 

12 


178  THE   AZTECS. 

pieces  of  bamboo,  surmounted  with  streamers  of 
cotton  or  paper.  The  priests  —  their  faces  black- 
ened, their  foreheads  covered  with  round  pieces 
of  papyrus,  their  lips  smeared  with  honey  —  were 
armed  with  a  sceptre  terminating  in  a  ball  of 
feathers  surmounted  by  a  flower.  Around  the 
hearth  where  the  sacred  fire  was  burning,  two 
men,  bearing  a  cage  made  of  pine,  danced  while 
the  priests  supported  themselves  on  their  scep- 
tres ;  all  these  ceremonies  had  a  meaning.  In 
another  place,  the  courtiers  and  the  officers  also 
engaged  in  a  dance.  The  musicians,  instead 
of  occupying  the  centre  of  the  hall,  placed  them- 
selves in  such  a  way  that  the  sound  of  the  instru- 
ments could  be  heard,  without  those  who  played 
them  being  seen. 

A  year  before  the  feast,  at  the  same  time  that  the 
victim  intended  for  Tezcatlipoca  was  chosen,  the 
one  who  was  to  be  offered  to  Huitzilipochtli  was 
also  selected.  This  new  victim  was  designated 
by  the  name  of  Ixteocale  ("  wise  lord  of  heaven  "). 
The  two  captives  walked  about  together ;  still, 
however,  the  representative  of  Huitzilipochtli  was 
not  worshipped  by  the  people.  On  the  day  of 
sacrifice  the  victim  was  clothed  in  a  dress  of 
paper,  and  crowned  with  a  sort  of  mitre  made 
of  eagle's  feathers.  On  his  shoulders  was  placed 
a  net  and  a  bag;  thus  arrayed  he  took  part  in  the 
dances.  Custom  allowed  the  unhappy  being 
himself  to  fix  the  hour  of  his  sacrifice.  Thus, 
when  resolved  to  die,  he  presented  himself  to  the 


FEAST   OF   HUITZILIPOCHTLI.  179 

sacrificers,  who,  instead  of  laying  him  on  the  altar, 
held  him  on  their  arms  while  cutting  out  his 
heart.  This  task  accomplished,  they  resumed 
their  dances,  and  did  not  cease  until  night,  inter- 
rupting them  at  times  to  incense  the  idol.  It  was 
during  this  feast  that  the  priests  made  an  incision 
in  the  stomach,  the  breast,  and  the  wrists  of  chil- 
dren born  a  year  before.  This  operation  conse- 
crated them  to  the  protecting  god  of  the  nation  ; 
and  it  was  this  custom  that  led  to  the  belief  that 
circumcision  was  practised  among  the  Aztecs. 
However  that  may  be,  Torquemada  affirms  that 
it  was  one  of  the  customs  of  the  Totonacs. 

Each  god,  therefore,  had  his  feasts,  which  always 
terminated  with  human  sacrifices.  The  Aztecs 
had  scarcely  time  enough  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  of 
their  religion.  In  all  probability,  the  individual 
Aztec  observed  no  feasts  besides  those  of  Tlaloc, 
Quetzacoatl,  Tezcatlipoca,  and  Huitzilipochtli, 
except  the  feasts  of  the  protecting  god  of  his 
caste  or  of  his  trade.  In  the  birth,  marriage,  and 
burial  ceremonies,  we  shall  return  to  the  study  of 
the  superstitions  of  this  strange  people. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Election  of  Kings.  —  Their  Coronation.  —  The  Royal 
Counsellors.  —  Ambassadors. —  Couriers. —  The  Nobil- 
ity.—  The  People.  —  Taxes  and  Tributes. 

WHEN  the  Aztecs  placed  Acamapictli  at 
their  head,  conferring  the  power,  the 
honors,  and  the  rights  of  royalty  on  him,  they 
seem  to  have  decided  that  from  that  time  forth 
the  kings  should  always  be  elected.  Hence, 
shortly  afterwards,  four  electors  were  appointed, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  represent  in  their  person 
the  votes  of  the  whole  nation.  These  electors, 
chosen  from  among  the  principal  nobles,  and 
even  belonging  to  the  royal  family,  were  also 
celebrated  for  their  wisdom.  Their  authority 
ceased  after  the  election,  and  they  could  be  re- 
elected only  with  the  general  assent  of  the  nobil- 
ity. If  one  of  the  electors  died  before  the  king,  he 
was  immediately  replaced.  Beginning  with  the 
reign  of  Itzacoatl,  the  kings  of  Alcolhuacan  and 
of  Tacuba  were  numbered  among  the  electors ; 
but  their  title  seems  to  have  been  purely  honor- 
ary, for  there  is  no  evidence  that  they  ever  took 
an  active  part  in  the  election. 

In  order  that  the  power  of  the  electors   might 
not  be  too  great,  and  to  escape  party  conflicts 


ELECTION    OF    KINGS.  l8l 

as  much  as  possible,  the  crown  was  made  heredi- 
tary in  the  family  of  Acamapictli.  Afterwards  it 
was  decided  that  one  of  the  brothers,  and  not  one 
of  the  sons,  of  the  dead  king,  should  succeed 
him.  If  he  had  no  brother,  a  nephew  or  cousin 
of  the  deceased  was  chosen,  the  electors  selecting 
the  most  worthy  of  the  number.  It  must  be  no- 
ticed in  this  connection  that  in  Mexico  primo- 
geniture conferred  no  privileges.  Thus,  after  the 
death  of  Moteuczoma  I.,  his  cousin  Axayacatl, 
whom  he  had  himself  recommended,  was  elected 
in  preference  to  his  older  brothers  Tizoc  and 
Ahuitzotl. 

The  election  of  a  new  king  did  not  take  place 
until  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  his  predecessor 
had  been  celebrated.  The  election  over,  the  re- 
sult was  communicated  to  the  feudatories,  and 
to  the  kings  of  Alcolhuacan  and  of  Tacuba,  who 
were  charged  with  its  ratification.  The  two  kings, 
accompanied  by  all  the  nobility,  having  chosen  a 
propitious  day,  conducted  the  new  sovereign  to 
the  temple.  The  feudatories  led  the  way,  clothed 
with  the  insignia  of  their  position,  followed  by 
the  nobles  of  the  court,  decorated  with  the  dis- 
tinctive marks  of  the  offices  they  filled.  Then 
came  the  two  allied  kings,  and  after  them  the 
newly  elected,  with  no  garment  but  the  girdle 
demanded  by  decency.  He  went  up  to  the  tem- 
ple, leaning  on  the  shoulders  of  the  two  most  im- 
portant lords  of  the  court ;  one  of  the  high-priests, 
escorted  by  all  the  religious  dignitaries,  came  to 


I  82  THE   AZTECS. 

meet  him.  The  new  king  began  by  adoring 
Huitzilipochtli,  touching  the  soil  with  his  hand, 
and  afterwards  carrying  a  little  of  it  to  his  lips. 
The  high-priest  then  covered  him  with  a  sort 
of  black  paint,  and  sprinkled  him  four  times 
with  holy  water,  by  means  of  branches  of  ce- 
dar and  of  willow,  and  stalks  of  corn.  He  was 
then  covered  with  a  cloak  on  which  skulls  and 
human  bones  were  painted ;  on  his  head  were 
placed  two  veils,  a  black  one  and  a  green  one, 
ornamented  with  the  same  funereal  emblems. 
Finally,  they  placed  rich  sandals  on  his  feet ; 
and  from  his  neck  suspended  a  small  gourd  full 
of  seeds,  intended  to  protect  him  against  cer- 
tain diseases,  against  witchcraft  and  deception  ; 
they  then  placed  in  his  hands  a  censer  and  a 
bag  of  copal  resin,  that  he  might  incense  the 
gods. 

During  all  these  ceremonies  the  king  remained 
in  a  crouching  position.  The  high-priest,  taking 
his  place  on  a  seat,  pronounced  a  speech  in  which, 
after  having  congratulated  the  new-elect,  he  enu- 
merated the  duties  he  would  have  to  fulfil  in 
regard  to  the  people  who  had  conferred  the  power 
on  him.  He  exhorted  the  king  to  be  zealous  in 
the  cause  of  religion,  to  be  just,  to  assist  the  poor, 
and  to  defend  the  country.  Next  came  the 
harangues  of  the  allied  kings,  and  those  of  the 
nobles,  to  which  the  king  replied  with  words  of 
gratitude,  and  with  the  promise  to  devote  himself 
to  the  welfare  of  the  state. 


CORONATION.  183 

After  these  official  discourses,  the  king,  accom- 
panied by  his  cortege,  descended  to  the  lowest 
steps  of  the  temple,  where  the  rest  of  the  nobility 
awaited  him  ;  these,  having  sworn  allegiance  to 
the  new  king,  offered  him  costly  apparel  and 
jewels.  He  afterwards  entered  a  special  hall. 
There  he  was  obliged  to  remain  alone  for  four 
days,  to  content  himself  with  only  one  meal  in 
every  twenty-four  hours,  to  bathe  himself  daily, 
and  to  puncture  his  ears,  so  that  he  might  be  able 
to  present  drops  of  blood  to  Huitzilipochtli  with 
the  perfumes  he  gave  him.  Finally,  he  asked  the 
gods  to  give  him  the  enlightenment  he  needed 
to  govern  his  kingdom  wisely.  On  the  fifth  day 
the  nobles  came  to  lead  him  to  his  palace.  There 
he  confirmed  his  feudatories  in  their  charges, 
and  the  public  amusements,  balls,  banquets,  and 
illuminations  began. 

In  consequence  of  a  custom  which  Moteuc- 
zoma  made  a  law,  the  new  king,  before  his  coro- 
nation was  obliged  to  undertake  a  war,  to  se- 
cure  the  victims  intended  for  the  gods  in  that 
important  ceremony.  The  Aztecs  therefore  were 
never  at  a  loss  for  reasons  to  go  to  war ;  they 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  rebels  to  be  pun- 
ished, or  in  picking  a  quarrel  with  some  of  their 
neighbors.  Historians  are  silent  in  regard  to  the 
coronation  ceremonies ;  all  we  know  is  that  it  was 
the  privilege  of  the  king  of  the  Alcolhuas  to 
place  the  crown  on  the  head  of  the  new  king. 
This  crown,  called  "  copilli, "  resembled  a   mitre, 


1 84 


THE   AZTECS. 


the  front  part  of  which  turned  back  and  ended  in 
a  point,  and  the  lower  part  of  which  fell  down 
over  the  neck.  It  was  made  of  gold,  or  some- 
times of  feathers  chosen  to  suit  the  taste  of  the 
one  who  was  to  wear  it  (fig.  14). 


Fig.  14.  —  Ahuitzotl  and  Huitzilihuitl,  crowned  with  the 
copili.i;  also  the  hieroglyphics  of  their  names. 

In  the  interior  of  the  palace  the  king  was 
vested  in  a  blue-and-white  mantle;  blue  and 
white  were  the  royal  colors,  and  could  be  worn 
only  by  the  king.  When  he  went  to  the  temple 
he  always  wore  white  clothes.  On  other  occa- 
sions, according  as  he  dispensed  justice,  presided 
over  his  council,  or  attended  a  public  feast,  he 
wore  different  costumes.  Whenever  he  went  out 
he  was  surrounded  by  courtiers,  was  crowned 
with  the  copilli,  and  was  preceded  by  a  noble 
armed  with  a  wand  of  aromatic  wood,  or  one  made 
of  gold  and  silver,  —  a  sign  that  announced  to  the 
people  the  approach  of  their  sovereign. 

The  authority  of  the  Aztec  kings,  like  all  royal 
authority,  varied  with  the  character  of  the  person 
elected,  and  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed.  At  the  beginning  of  the  monarchy,  their 
power  was  very  limited,  almost  paternal.     Their 


COUNSELLORS    AND   AMBASSADORS.  185 

conduct  was  full  of  humanity,  and  the  dues  and 
services  exacted  from  their  subjects  were  very 
moderate.  Gradually,  pride  on  the  one  hand  and 
servility  on  the  other  led  them  to  transgress  the 
limits  of  the  authority  which  the  nation  had 
granted  them,  and  they  usurped  absolute  power, 
and  even  despotism.  In  spite  of  these  usurpa- 
tions, the  Mexicans  always  respected  their  kings ; 
they  never  revolted  except  in  the  time  of  the 
weakness  of  Moteuczoma  Xocoyotzin,  when  they 
saw  him  accept  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards. 

The  Aztec  kings  had  three  superior  councils, 
composed  of  men  of  the  highest  nobility.  All 
affairs  relative  to  the  government  of  the  prov- 
inces, to  taxes,  and  to  wars  to  be  undertaken, 
were  discussed  in  these  assemblies.  Generally, 
the  king  took  no  important  step  without  the  con- 
sent of  these  counsellors,  who  by  degrees  became 
simple  courtiers. 

Among  the  numerous  officers  of  the  court, 
there  was  a  treasurer-general,  or  grand  major- 
domo,  charged  with  receiving  the  tribute  levied 
on  the  provinces.  The  accounts,  according  to 
Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  were  kept  by  means  of 
paintings.  Another  treasurer  took  care  of  the 
jewels,  and  at  the  same  time  directed  the  workmen 
who  manufactured  them.  A  third  superintended 
the  artists  in  feather-work,  and  a  grand-huntsman 
supplied  the  woods  with  game. 

The  Aztec  kings  were  represented  by  ambas- 
sadors, and    although    the    ceremonial    provided 


1 86  THE   AZTECS. 

speeches  the  forms  of  which  varied  but  little,  men 
of  high  birth  and  of  acknowledged  eloquence  were 
always  chosen  for  delicate  missions.  An  embassy 
was  composed  of  several  persons,  bearing  sacred 
insignia.  Generally,  the  plenipotentiaries  were 
dressed  in  green  garments  ornamented  with 
fringe,  and  their  head-dress  was  embellished  with 
magnificent  feathers.  They  held  in  the  right 
hand  an  arrow  with  the  point  towards  the  earth. 
On  their  left  arm  they  hung  a  shield,  and  a  net 
filled  with  provisions.  They  were  treated  with 
respect  wherever  they  went,  and,  when  in  the 
enemy's  country,  as  long  as  they  did  not  leave  the 
highway  that  led  to  the  place  to  which  they  were 
journeying,  their  persons  were  inviolable. 

Having  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
city  in  which  they  were  to  exercise  the  powers 
conferred  upon  them,  before  entering  the  town 
they  waited  for  the  nobles  of  the  place  to  come 
to  meet  them,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting 
them  to  the  "  public  house,"  where  they  were 
lodged,  fed,  and  cared  for.  Perfumes  were 
burned  before  them,  bouquets  offered  them,  and 
as  soon  as  they  had  rested  they  were  conducted 
to  the  palace  of  the  governor  or  king.  Finally, 
they  were  taken  to  the  audience-hall,  in  which 
the  person  to  whom  they  had  been  sent  awaited 
them,  surrounded  by  his  counsellors. 

After  a  profound  bow,  the  ambassadors  seated 
themselves  on  the  floor  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
and  without  raising  their'  eyes,  without  opening 


ROYAL   COURIERS.  I  87 

their  lips,  waited  until  they  were  invited  to  speak. 
This  invitation  given,  the  principal  among  them, 
after  a  greeting,  explained  in  a  low  voice  the  ob- 
ject of  their  mission.  The  king  and  his  coun- 
sellors listened  attentively  without  interrupting 
him.  This  harangue  over,  the  ambassadors  re- 
turned to  their  lodgings.  In  the  meantime  the 
king  discussed  the  subject  with  his  advisers,  and 
one  of  his  ministers  carried  his  answer  to  the 
ambassadors.  They  were  then  supplied  with 
provisions  for  their  journey,  and  those  who  had 
gone  to  receive  them  reconducted  them  as  far  as 
the  city  gates. 

The  Aztec  kings  had  couriers ;  these  men, 
whenever  there  was  occasion  for  it,  revealed  to 
the  people  by  their  dress,  actions,  or  manner  of 
proceeding,  the  news  they  were  carrying  to  the 
kinor  If  a  battle  had  been  lost  they  hurried 
along  with  their  hair  dishevelled.  On  arriving  at 
Mexico  they  went  straight  to  the  palace,  knelt 
down  before  the  king,  and  told  him  of  the  defeat. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  they  came  to  announce  a  vic- 
tory, their  hair  was  tied  up  with  a  colored  cord, 
and  they  wore  white  clothes.  Holding  a  shield 
in  the  left  hand  and  a  sword  in  the  right,  they 
proceeded  making  a  show  of  fighting,  and  singing 
hymns  that  recalled  past  victories.  The  people, 
excited  by  the  news  they  carried,  accompanied 
them,  uttering  cries  of  joy. 

In  order  that  messages  might  arrive  promptly 
at  the  capital  from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  small 


1 88  THE   AZTECS. 

towers  were  constructed  on  the  principal  roads 
every  four  miles,  in  which  couriers  kept  them- 
selves always  in  readiness  to  act  as  relays.  The 
first  who  set  out  went  as  far  as  the  nearest  post, 
communicated  the  news  which  he  bore,  verbally  to 
one  of  his  colleagues,  or  gave  him  the  hierogly- 
phic pictures  which  were  used  in  place  of  writing. 
Carried  from  post  to  post  the  news  soon  reached 
its  destination ;  for  it  is  said  that  these  couriers 
travelled  as  much  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  a 
day.  By  means  of  this  system  fresh  fish  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  about  two  hundred  miles  distant 
could  be  placed  daily  on  the  table  of  Moteuczoma. 

From  their  youth  the  couriers  were  exercised 
in  running,  and  the  priests  charged  with  educat- 
ing them  for  this  employment  stimulated  their 
zeal  by  rewarding  them  with  prizes.  Even  in  the 
present  time  the  distances  traversed  by  Indian 
couriers,  who  trot  rather  than  walk,  are  constant 
surprises  to  Europeans. 

The  nobles  of  the  Aztec  empire  were  divided 
into  a  multitude  of  classes  which  the  Spaniards 
confounded  under  the  general  name  of  Caziques. 
This  word,  which  signifies  "  prince "  or  "  lord," 
belongs  to  the  Hataian  language,  and  its  Mexican 
equivalent  is  Tlaotani.  When  the  Spaniards 
arrived  there  were  thirty  of  these  feudatories 
possessing  a  hundred  thousand  vassals,  and  three 
thousand  who  owned  a  village  or  large  town. 

The  nobles  of  each  class  enjoyed  distinct  privi- 
leges ;  they  wore  a  costume  which  enabled  one  to 


THE    NOBILITY.  189 

recognize  their  rank.  Only  the  nobles  had  a  right 
to  ornament  their  clothes  with  golden  jewels, 
silver,  and  precious  stones.  Up  to  the  reign  of 
Moteuczoma  II.,  all  important  positions  in  the 
palace,  the  magistracy,  and  the  army  were  the 
exclusive  appanage  of  the  nobles. 

In  general,  titles  of  nobility  were  hereditary 
among  the  Aztecs,  and  many  of  the  great  fam- 
ilies, descendants  of  the  founders  of  Mexico,  pre- 
served their  influence  up  to  the  hour  of  the 
conquest.  Even  to-day  some  branches  of  these 
formerly  powerful  families  exist,  but  they  are 
degraded  by  extreme  poverty  and  confounded 
with  the  lower  classes. 

The  land  in  Mexico  was  divided  among  the 
crown,  the  nobles,  the  priests  and  the  plebeians, 
and  the  major-domo  of  the  palace  possessed  very 
accurate  plans  of  the  entire  territory.  In  these 
maps  the  royal  lands  were  indicated  by  purple, 
those  of  the  nobles  by  cochineal  red,  those  of 
the  people  by  yellow.  The  limits  and  extent  of 
each  estate  could  be  seen  at  a  glance,  and  for  a 
long  time  the  Spaniards  used  them  to  settle  the 
differences  that  arose  among  the  Indians.  Many 
villages  preserve  some  of  these  documents.  I 
may  cite  among  the  number  that  of  the  village  of 
Tilapa,  in  the  valley  of  Orizava,  which  I  endeav- 
ored in  vain  to  acquire.  In  these  documents 
not  only  are  the  estates  represented,  but  also 
the  crops  harvested,  and  the  animals  found  on 
them. 


190 


THE    AZTECS. 


Among  the  inalienable  properties  of  the  crown 
there  was  one  of  which  certain  court  dignitaries 
were  the  usufructuaries.  These  lords  paid  no 
tribute;  but  on  each  of  their  visits  to  the  sov- 
ereign they  presented  him  with  flowers  and 
birds  as  a  sign  of  vassalage.  Besides,  they  were 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  royal  palaces  and 
gardens.  These  usufructuaries  accompanied  the 
king  whenever  he  appeared  in  public,  and  on  this 
account  they  were  always  treated  with  honor  and 
respect.  When  one  of  them  died  his  eldest  son 
succeeded  him ;  but  if  he  changed  his  place  of 
residence  he  lost  his  rights,  and  a  new  titulary 
named  by  the  king,  or  elected  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district,  took  his  place. 

The  possessions  of  the  nobles  originated  in 
royal  gifts  granted  as  a  reward  for  service  ren- 
dered the  state ;  and  they  were  transmitted  from 
father  to  son.  These  lands  were  not  inalienable, 
but  it  was  prohibited  to  give  or  sell  them  to 
plebeians. 

In  the  matter  of  inheritance,  the  Mexicans 
respected  the  right  of  primogeniture.  Never- 
theless, if  the  first-born  son  was  incapable  of 
taking  care  of  his  property,  the  father  could 
choose  another  one  of  his  children,  on  condition 
that  the  latter  would  promise  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  eldest.  Girls,  at  least  in  Tlascala,  never 
inherited  any  property ;  by  this  arrangement  the 
estate  of  a  family  was  prevented  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  strangers.     Hereditary  titles  accom- 


DIVISION    OF    LANDS.  191 

panied  by  landed  estates  first  originated  in  Ana- 
huac,  in  the  twelfth  century,  when  Xolotl,  king  of 
the  Chichimecs,  divided  the  lands  between  the 
nobles  of  his  own  country  and  those  of  Alcol- 
huacan.  These  gifts  were  made  on  the  express 
condition  that  those  thus  favored  would  always 
remain  faithful  to  the  king,  and  would  recognize 
his  power,  and  that  in  case  of  need  they  would 
aid  the  crown  with  their  goods,  their  person,  and 
the  arms  of  their  vassals. 

The  lands  that  belonged  to  cities  and  villages 
were  divided  into  as  many  parts  as  there  were  dis- 
tricts ;  under  no  pretext  could  they  be  alienated, 
and  certain  portions  were  set  aside  to  supply  the 
army  with  food.  Later,  the  kings  of  Spain  as- 
signed lands  to  the  Indians,  and  granted  them 
the  right  of  perpetual  possession.  This  was  of 
no  avail,  for  owing  to  the  influence  of  certain 
individuals  and  the  injustice  of  certain  judges  the 
Indians  were  frequently  deprived  of  their  lands. 
At  the  present  time  there  are  few  villages,  espe- 
cially in  the  neighborhood  of  cities,  that  are  not 
engaged  in  litigation  with  the  municipalities  of 
their  powerful  neighbors,  to  defend  what  remains 
to  them  of  the  lands  granted  them  by  the  kings 
of  Spain,  —  lands  without  which  they  would  cease 
to  exist. 

All  the  provinces  conquered  by  the  Aztecs 
were  generally  divided  among  their  favorites,  who 
paid  a  tribute  consisting  of  a  quantity  of  fruits, 
animals,  and  minerals,  determined  by  a  tariff,  to 


192 


THE   AZTECS. 


the  crown.  Besides  this,  as  a  tax,  the  merchants 
had  to  give  a  portion  of  their  merchandise,  and 
the  laborers  a  part  of  their  work.  In  the  capital 
of  each  province  was  a  storehouse  for  the  recep- 
tion of  grain,  provisions,  clothing,  all  the  objects 
collected  by  the  tax-gatherers  of  the  district. 
These  tax-gatherers,  who  as  a  badge  of  office 
carried  a  rod  in  one  hand  and  a  fan  in  the  other, 
were  detested  by  the  people,  who  are  always  and 
everywhere  enemies  of  the  public  treasury,  the 
utility  of  which  they  are  apt  to  overlook. 

The  plebeians  were  required  by  law  to  give  a 
certain  amount  of  their  labor  towards  embellish- 
ing the  capital ;  this  obligation,  however,  always 
ended  upon  their  marriage.  At  that  time  they 
offered  a  banquet  to  the  officers  in  charge  of 
public  works,  introduced  their  wife  to  them,  and 
received  a  copper  hatchet  as  a  sign  of  liberation. 

The  treasurers  of  the  crown  used  for  registers, 
as  we  have  said,  paintings  on  which  were  repre- 
sented not  only  the  tributary  peoples,  but  the 
nature,  the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  pro- 
ducts these  people  were  required  to  deliver. 
According  to  these  statistics,  of  which  there  are 
many  in  the  Mendoza  collection,  Xocomocho, 
Huehuetla,  and  Mazatlan,  together  with  some 
other  cities  on  the  Pacific  coast,  were  annually 
required  to  contribute  to  the  royal  treasury  cot- 
ton cloths,  four  thousand  bundles  of  various 
colored  feathers,  two  hundred  sacks  of  cacao, 
forty  tiger  skins,  and  a  hundred  and  sixty  birds 


TAXES   AND    TRIBUTES. 


193 


of  stated  species.  Huaxyacac,  Coyalpan,  and 
Atlacuechahuaxan,  cities  of  the  Zapotecs,  were 
taxed  forty  ingots  of  gold  and  twenty  sacks  of 
cochineal.  Tlachquiauhco,  Axotlan  and  Teot- 
zapotlan  furnished  twenty  vases  of  a  specified 
dimension  filled  with  gold  dust.  Tochtepec, 
Otatitlan,  Cozamaloapam,  with  some  other  cities 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  besides  cotton  cloths,  cacao, 
and  gold,  paid  a  tribute  of  twenty  thousand  bun- 
dles of  feathers,  six  collars  made  of  emeralds, 
forty  pieces  of  amber  and  rock  crystal  mounted 
in  gold,  to  be  used  as  ear-rings,  besides  one  hun- 
dred bottles  of  a  resinous  substance  called  liquid- 
amber,  and  sixteen  thousand  balls  of  Indian 
rubber. 

Tepeyacac,  Ouecholac,  Tecamalchalco,  Acat- 
zinco,  etc.,  furnished  four  thousand  sacks  of  lime, 
four  thousand  loads  of  large  pieces  of  bamboos 
for  the  construction  of  buildings,  and  the  same 
number  of  small  pieces  for  the  manufacture  of 
arrows ;  also  a  certain  quantity  of  aromatic  sub- 
stances. Molinaltepec  and  its  neighbors  in  the 
Warm  Lands  sent  six  hundred  measures  of 
honey,  forty  vases  full  of  yellow  ochre,  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty  copper  hatchets,  and  forty  tur- 
quoises set  in  gold.  The  cities  of  the  country 
of  the  Tlahuicas  contributed  sixteen  thousand 
large  papyrus-leaves  and  four  thousand  gourds 
of  various  shapes.  Mats  to  the  number  of 
eight  thousand  were  furnished  by  Tehuiloxacan. 
Finally,  other    provinces  sent  lime,  posts,  birds, 

13 


194 


THE    AZTECS. 


and  quadrupeds.  Xilotepec,  a  city  of  the  Oto- 
mites,  paid  a  tribute  of  forty  live  eagles.  And  on 
the  same  authority,  the  pictures  of  the  Mendoza 
collection,  we  know  that  the  Matlatzincos,  con- 
quered by  king  Axayacatl,  were  required,  besides 
paying  the  ordinary  tributes,  to  cultivate  a  large 
territory,  the  products  of  which  belonged  to  the 
army. 

These  enormous  contributions,  augmented  by 
the  spoils  of  war,  and  presents  from  governors  of 
provinces  and  from  the  feudatories,  rendered  the 
sovereigns  so  opulent  that  their  luxury  aston- 
ished the  conquering  Spaniards.  On  the  other 
hand  these  burdens  crushed  the  people,  who  saw 
them  continually  increasing.  It  is  certain  that  a 
large  part  of  this  wealth  went  to  pay  the  em- 
ployees, the  ministers,  and  the  magistrates,  to 
reward  services  rendered  the  state,  and  also  to 
help  widows,  orphans,  invalids,  and  old  men,  — 
classes  of  people  for  whom  the  Aztecs  always 
felt  great  compassion.  It  is  also  known  that  in 
time  of  famine  the  royal  storehouses  were  opened 
to  the  people  ;  but  how  many  of  the  unfortunates 
who  could  scarcely  pay  the  tribute  ever  again 
saw  any  part  of  what  they  had  contributed  ?  To 
the  overwhelming  weight  of  these  exactions  must 
be  added  the  severity  with  which  they  were  col- 
lected ;  for  the  person  who  was  unable  to  meet 
them  was  sold  as  a  slave,  and  his  liberty  can- 
celled the  debt  his  labor  had  been  unable  to 
discharge. 


OPPRESSION    OF   THE    PEOPLE. 


195 


Behind  the  unheard-of  luxury  of  the  court  was 
concealed  the  misery  that  naturally  accompanies 
all  despotic  governments.  The  king,  the  nobles, 
the  priests,  the  officers,  and  the  privileged  classes, 
lived  in  abundance ;  the  people,  bound  to  the 
soil,  oppressed,  badly  fed,  with  no  hope  of  see- 
ing their  condition  improve,  toiled  to  supply,  not 
their  own  needs,  but  those  of  the  great.  Be- 
tween the  king  and  his  vassals  there  was  an 
impassable  chasm ;  and  the  latter,  the  soldiers 
especially,  considered  death  as  a  blessing,  for  it 
opened  to  them  the  gates  of  a  world  where  their 
sufferings  would  cease  forever.  Oppressor  and 
oppressed:  do  not  these  two  words,  unfortunately, 
sum  up  the  history  of  man  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
countries  ? 


CHAPTER   X. 

Birth.  —  Baptism.  —  Marriages.  —  Wedding  Ceremonies.  — 
Polygamy.  —  Burial.  —  Cremation. 

WHEN  a  Mexican  woman  found  herself  to 
be  enceinte,  she  communicated  the  news  to 
her  nearer  relatives.  Whereupon  the  family 
gathered  to  congratulate  the  future  mother,  and 
to  choose  a  midwife  whose  duty  it  would  be  to 
help  her.  The  "mortal  hour"  having  come,  if 
the  patient  died  she  was  dressed  in  her  richest 
garments  ;  then,  after  the  sun  set,  her  husband, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  matrons  armed 
with  swords  and  shields,  carried  her  on  his  shoul- 
ders. It  might  be  necessary  to  defend  the  body 
of  the  deceased  against  the  attacks  of  new  sol- 
diers, who,  owing  to  a  strange  superstition,  be- 
lieved that  a  finger  of  a  woman  who  died  in 
childbirth  was  a  talisman  that  would  render  them 
invincible.  Having  saved  the  body  from  mutila- 
tion, it  was  placed  on  the  steps  of  the  temple  of 
the  goddesses  Cihuapilli  ("  celestial  women  ").  The 
husband,  assisted  by  his  friends,  had  still  to  keep 
watch  for  four  days  over  the  remains,  for  during 
that  time  it  might  be  in  danger  of  sorcery. 

Usually,  the  midwife  washed  the  new-born,  and 
said  to  him  :  "  Receive  this  water,  for  thy  mother 


BAPTISM. 


197 


is  the  goddess  Chalchiutlicue.  This  bath  wipes 
out  the  stains  that  come  from  thy  fathers,  cleanses 
thy  heart,  and  gives  thee  a  new  life."  Then,  ad- 
dressing herself  to  the  goddess,  she  asked  her  to 
grant  her  prayer.  Next,  taking  water  in  her 
right  hand,  and  breathing  on  it,  she  moistened  the 
mouth,  the  head,  and  the  breast  of  the  child  with 
it,  and  bathed  him,  saying  :  "  May  the  invisible 
God  descend  upon  this  water,  may  he  wipe  out 
all  thy  sins,  may  he  guard  thee  against  evil  for- 
tune! Gracious  creature,  the  gods  Ometeuctli 
and  Omecihuatl  have  created  thee  in  the  highest 
heaven,  to  send  thee  to  this  earth ;  but  know 
thou  that  life  is  sad,  painful,  and  full  of  misery 
and  evil,  and  that  thou  canst  eat  only  by  working. 
May  God  help  thee  in  the  many  troubles  that 
await  thee  !  '  After  this  discourse  she  congratu- 
lated the  father,  the  mother,  and  the  relatives. 

The  bath  over,  they  consulted  the  soothsayers 
in  regard  to  the  good  or  bad  fortune  in  store  for 
the  child.  The  sign  that  marked  the  day  of  his 
birth  was  noted,  and  also  the  one  that  ruled  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  last  thirteen  years.  If  the 
child  was  born  at  midnight,  they  compared  the 
preceding  day  and  the  day  following.  These  ob- 
servations completed,  the  soothsayers  foretold  the 
future  lot  of  the  new-born.  If  the  day  was  con- 
sidered ill-omened,  the  second  bath  of  the  child 
was  postponed  for  five  days. 

The  second  bath  was  more  important  than  the 
first ;  the  relatives,  the  friends,  and  a   number  of 


198  THE   AZTECS. 

children  were  invited  to  be  present.  If  the 
father  was  rich  he  gave  a  banquet  and  presented 
a  garment  to  each  guest.  If  he  was  a  soldier, 
he  made  a  little  dress,  a  miniature  bow,  and  four 
little  arrows,  for  the  new-born  ;  if  a  laborer  or  arti- 
san, some  little  tools  like  those  used  in  his  own 
trade.  The  same  was  done  in  the  case  of  girls, 
for  whom  little  spindles  were  made.  A  number  of 
lights  were  ignited,  and  the  midwife  carried  the 
child  about  the  court  of  the  dwelling,  placed  it  on 
a  heap  of  leaves,  near  a  basin,  and  repeated  the 
words  already  quoted.  Rubbing  all  his  limbs,  she 
added  :  "  Where  art  thou,  evil  fortune  ?  Leave  the 
body  of  this  child."  She  then  raised  him  above 
her  head,  offered  him  to  the  gods,  and  prayed 
them  to  grant  him  all  the  virtues.  She  then  in- 
voked the  goddess  of  the  waters,  next  the  sun 
and  the  earth.  "  Thou,  O  Sun,  father  of  all  the 
living,"  she  said,  "  and  thou,  O  Earth,  our 
mother,  accept  this  child,  protect  it  as  if  it  were 
thine  own  son !  If  he  must  be  a  soldier,  may  he 
die  in  battle,  defending  the  honor  of  the  gods, 
so  that  he  may  be  able  to  enjoy  in  heaven  the 
pleasures  reserved  for  the  brave  who  sacrifice 
their  lives  in  such  a  good  cause." 

After  this,  the  miniature  imitations  of  the  arms 
he  would  have  to  carry  or  the  utensils  he  would 
have  to  use  were  placed  in  the  little  hands  of  the 
child,  and  the  protecting  god  of  the  profession  for 
which  he  was  intended  was  invoked.  The  arms 
were  then  buried  in  a  field  where  it  was  supposed 


BAPTISM. 


199 


the  infant  misfht  fi^ht  in  the  future.  If  the  child 
was  a  daughter,  the  little  spindle  was  buried  in  the 
dwelling  itself  under  the  "  metatl,"  or  stone  for 
pounding  maize.  According  to  Boturini,  the 
neophyte  was  passed  four  times  over  a  flame. 

Before  placing  the  tools  in  the  hands  of  the 
new-born,  the  midwife  enjoined  the  children  who 
had  been  brought  there  for  the  ceremony  to  give 
their  little  comrade  a  name,  and  they  pronounced 
the  name  that  the  father  had  previously  indicated 
to  them.  They  then  dressed  the  babe,  and 
placed  him  on  a  bed,  praying  Xoalticitl,  goddess 
of  the  cradles,  to  warm  him  on  her  bosom,  and 
Xoalteuctli,  god  of  night,  to  lull  him  to  sleep. 

The  name  given  to  the  child  was  sometimes 
borrowed  from  the  astronomical  signs  of  the  day 
of  his  birth,  a  custom  that  was  almost  general 
among  the  Miztecs.  Thus,  he  was  named  Macuil- 
coatl,  that  is,  "  fifth  serpent,"  or  Omecalli  ("  second 
house  ").  At  times  the  name  was  suggested  by 
some  remarkable  circumstance  attending  his  en- 
trance into  the  world  ;  for  example,  one  of  the 
four  chiefs  who  governed  the  republic  of  Tlascala 
when  the  Spaniards  landed  was  called  Citlapoca 
("smoking  star"),  because  he  was  born  at  the 
time  of  the  appearance  of  a  comet. 

A  boy  who  was  born  on  the  clay  of  the  renewal 
of  fire  took  the  name  of  Molpilli,  and  a  girl  that 
of  Xiuhnenetl,  —  names  which  recalled  the  special 
features  of  this  feast.  They  also  gave  names  of 
animals  to  boys,  and   names  of   flowers  to  girls, 


200  THE   AZTECS. 

according  to  the  fancies  of  the  father,  or  the 
counsels  of  the  soothsayers.  Ordinarily,  a  child 
received  but  one  name ;  still,  the  boys  might 
always  gain  a  second  by  their  bravery,  their  good 
qualities,  or  their  defects.  This  was  the  case  with 
Moteuczoma  I.,  who  was  called  Ilhuicamina  ("the 
man  who  casts  arrows  towards  the  sky,"  or  "  the 
choleric  man  "). 

When  the  ceremony  of  the  bath  was  finished, 
a  banquet  was  given.  On  these  occasions  the 
guests  drank  a  little  more  than  usual,  but  they 
did  not  become  intoxicated.  They  allowed  the 
lights  to  burn  out,  and  during  the  four  days  that 
intervened  between  the  first  and  second  baths, 
they  took  care  that  the  fire  might  not  be  extin- 
guished,—  an  accident  which  would  have  been  an 
evil  omen.  When  the  child  was  weaned,  that  is, 
in  its  third  year,  the  guests  were  again  invited  to  a 
banquet.  Circumcision,  as  we  have  said,  was  not 
practised  among  the  Aztecs,  although  it  appears 
to  have  been  a  custom  of  the  Totonacs. 

Let  us  remark  that  the  Aztecs  were,  and  still 
are,  sociable  to  the  highest  degree,  and  that  they 
were  very  fond  of  feasts  and  banquets.  At 
these  gatherings  the  place  of  each  guest  was 
determined  by  his  rank,  his  merit,  or  his  age. 
Their  repasts  surprised  the  Spaniards  by  the  lux- 
ury of  the  dishes,  the  service,  and  the  linen,  by  a 
severe  observance  of  etiquette,  and  by  a  refine- 
ment of  cleanliness  unknown  to  or  despised  by 
uncivilized  nations. 


MARRIAGES.  201 

In  marriage,  the  laws  of  propriety  were  greatly 
respected,  and  unions  between  near  relatives,  ex- 
cept between  brothers-in-law  and  sisters-in-law, 
were  prohibited.  Marriages  were  never  concluded 
without  the  consent  of  the  fathers.  When  a 
young  man  reached  the  age  of  twenty  or  twenty- 
two  years,  and  a  girl  the  age  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen,  the  parents  tried  to  match  them,  and 
consulted  the  soothsayers.  Having  ascertained 
the  days  of  the  birth  of  the  two  young  people, 
the  augurs  announced  whether  the  desired  union 
would  be  a  happy  or  an  unhappy  one.  If  their 
prognostications  were  favorable,  "female  solici- 
tors," chosen  from  the  most  respectable  of  the 
relatives  of  the  young  man,  asked  the  young 
woman's  father  for  her.  These  "  solicitors  "  paid 
their  first  visit  in  the  middle  of  the  night;  they 
carried  presents  to  the  father  and  mother,  and 
asked  them  for  their  daughter's  hand.  The  first 
request  was  always  refused,  whatever  the  advan- 
tages of  the  projected  union  and  the  desire  of 
the  parents  to  conclude  it.  The  latter,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  form,  appeared  very  loath  to  lose  their 
daughter.  Some  days  afterwards  the  "solicitors" 
returned  to  the  charge,  supporting  their  request 
by  prayers  and  plausible  reasons,  enumerating 
the  young  man's  goods,  and  informing  themselves 
of  those  of  the  young  woman.  The  parents  now 
declared  that  they  were  unable  to  decide  before 
consulting  their  daughter  and  their  kinsmen. 
The   "solicitors"   then    withdrew,   to    return    no 


202  THE    AZTECS. 

more,  as  the  girl's  father  was  required   to   bring 
his  answer. 

If  this  was  favorable,  the  date  for  the  marriage 
was   fixed.     The  father  and    the  mother  of    the 
girl,  having  urged  her  to  be  faithful   and  obedient 
to  her  husband,  and  to  conduct   herself  with  de- 
corum  out  of  respect  for  her  own  family,  led  her 
to  the  home  of  her  father-in-law,  to  the  sound  of 
music.     The   young   man  and  his  relatives,  pre- 
ceded by  four  women   carrying  lighted  torches, 
received  the    future    wife    at    the    door  of    their 
dwelling.     The  betrothed  offered  incense  to  each 
other;  then  the  young  man,  taking  the  girl  by  the 
hand,  led  her  to  the  hall  where  the  marriage  was 
to  be  celebrated.     The  two  seated  themselves  on 
a  new  mat  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  near  a  fire 
that  had  been  prepared  for  the  ceremony.     Then 
a  priest  attached  the  skirt  of  the  girl's   mantle  to 
that  of  the  young  man  ;  this  form  constituted  the 
marriage  contract.     Afterwards  the  bride  walked 
around   the   hearth  seven  times;  then,  returning 
to    the  mat,  she  and  her  husband   incensed   the 
gods;     thereupon    they    exchanged    some    small 
presents. 

A  banquet  followed  ;  the  newly-married  couple 
ate  while  sitting  on  the  mat,  each  carrying  the 
food  to  the  mouth  of  the  other.  When  the  guests, 
seated  apart,  began  to  be  heated  from  the  effects 
of  their  libations,  they  went  to  dance  in  the 
court  of  the  house.  The  couple  remained  in  the 
same  place  for  four  days,  never  going  out,  except 


MARRIAGE    CEREMONIES.  203 

at  midnight  to  incense  the  idols  and  to  offer 
them  meats.  They  passed  these  four  days  in 
fasting  and  prayer.  Their  couch  was  composed 
of  two  new  mats  covered  with  pieces  of  cloth, 
having  a  feather,  a  bit  of  tiger's  skin,  and  a  fine 
stone,  called  "  chalchihuitl,"  in  the  centre.  At 
the  four  corners,  pieces  of  bamboo  and  agave- 
thorns  were  placed,  in  order  that  they  might  draw 
blood  from  their  ears  and  tongues  in  honor  of  the 
gods.  The  priests  charged  themselves  with  the 
construction  of  the  bed ;  but  the  meaning  of 
the  jewels,  the  feathers,  and  the  pieces  of  bamboo 
is  unknown.  Finally,  the  marriage  was  consum- 
mated. The  married  couple  then  put  on  new 
costumes  which  they  had  presented  to  each  other, 
and  the  woman  ornamented  her  head  with  white 
feathers,  and  her  feet  with  red  ones.  The  feast 
terminated  with  the  presentation  of  a  new  dress  to 
each  of  the  guests ;  the  mats,  the  cloths,  the  bam- 
boo, and  the  meats  were  then  taken  to  the  temple 
and  offered  in  homage  to  the  gods.  Owing  to  a 
singular  superstition,  if  a  bit  of  charcoal  or  ashes 
was  found  in  the  bridal  chamber,  it  was  regarded 
as  an  unfavorable  omen,  while  the  discovery  of  a 
grain  of  maize  was  indicative  of  prosperity. 

These  customs,  which  were  followed  through- 
out the  entire  Aztec  empire,  were  somewhat 
modified  in  the  neighboring  countries.  In  Ich- 
catlan,  a  young  man  who  wished  to  marry  pre- 
sented himself  to  the  priests.  The  latter  took 
him  to  the  temple  and  cut  off  some  of  his  hair 


204  THE   AZTECS. 

before  the  idols ;  then  showing  the  young  man  to 
the  people,  they  exclaimed :  "  This  man  wishes  to 
marry."  He  was  then  made  to  descend  the  steps 
of  the  sanctuary,  and  the  first  unmarried  woman 
he  met  became  his  wife,  as  if  the  gods  had  des- 
tined her  for  him.  Of  course,  on  such  days,  the 
young  girls  who  did  not  want  the  candidate  for  a 
husband,  took  care  not  to  go  near  the  temple. 
The  customs  of  the  Mexicans  were  followed  in 
the  celebration  of  the  union. 

Polygamy  was  permitted  among  the  Aztecs; 
hence  the  kings  and  the  nobles  had  a  great  many 
wives.  The  first  one,  however,  alone  had  a  right 
to  the  nuptial  ceremonies. 

When  an  Aztec  died,  after  care  had  been  first 
taken  to  close  his  eyes,  the  masters  of  burial  cere- 
monies, who  were  highly  honored,  were  called. 
Having  cut  up  a  number  of  pieces  of  papyrus, 
these  officials  covered  the  body  of  the  deceased 
with  them,  and  then  poured  a  vase  of  water  on 
his  head.  They  then  dressed  him  in  accordance 
with  his  condition,  his  fortune,  or  the  circum- 
stances of  his  death.  If  he  had  been  a  soldier  he 
was  dressed  like  the  idol  of  Huitzilipochtli,  and 
like  that  of  Xacatcuctli  if  he  had  been  a  mer- 
chant. The  person  who  died  by  drowning  was 
dressed  like  Tlaloc,  and  those  who  died  from  in- 
dulgence in  liquor  were  decked  with  the  emblems 
of  Tezcatzoncatl,  the  god  of  wine. 

A  vessel  of  water  was  then  placed  near  the 
dead  person,  to  slake  his  thirst  during  his  journey 


BURIAL    CEREMONIES. 


205 


to  the  other  world,  and  he  was  furnished  with 
bits  of  papyrus,  whose  usage  was  explained  to 
him  by  those  having  charge  of  the  ceremonies. 
"  With  this,"  said  one  of  them,  "  thou  wilt  pass  be- 
tween the  two  contending  mountains  in  safety; 
with  this  second  thou  wilt  travel  without  danger 
the  road  guarded  by  the  great  serpent ;  and  with 
this  third  thou  wilt  cross  the  domain  of  the  great 
crocodile,  Xochitonatl,  without  hindrance."  The 
fourth  piece  of  papyrus  was  a  passport  to  traverse 
the  seven  deserts,  the  fifth  served  for  the  eight 
hills,  and  the  sixth  to  defend  himself  against  the 
north  wind ;  for  they  believed  that  the  deceased 
would  have  to  pass  through  a  place  in  which  pre- 
vailed a  wind  so  strong  that  it  lifted  the  stones, 
and  so  sharp  that  it  cut  like  a  knife.  For  the 
same  reason  they  burned  the  clothes  and  arms  of 
the  deceased,  so  that  the  warmth  given  out  by 
their  combustion  might  protect  him  from  the  cold 
of  this  terrible  wind. 

One  of  the  principal  ceremonies  consisted  in 
killing  a  "  techichi,"  —  a  domestic  animal  very 
much  like  a  dog,  of  an  extinct  species,  —  so  that  he 
might  accompany  the  dead  on  his  journey.  They 
put  a  cord  around  the  animal's  neck  in  order  that 
he  might  be  able  to  cross  the  deep  river  of  the 
Nine  Waters.  The  techichi  was  buried  or 
burned  at  the  same  time  that  his  master  was, 
according  to  the  manner  of  the  latter's  death. 

While  the  masters  of  ceremonies  burned  in- 
cense around  the  funeral  pile  on  which  they  had 


206  THE    AZTECS. 

placed  the  body  of  the  deceased,  the  priests  in- 
toned a  funeral  hymn.  When  the  body  was  con- 
sumed, its  ashes  were  collected  in  an  earthen  vase, 
at  the  bottom  of  which  a  jewel,  of  a  value  propor- 
tionate to  the  fortune  of  the  deceased,  was  placed 
to  serve  him  as  a  heart  in  the  regions  he  was 
soon  to  inhabit.  The  vase  was  interred  in  a  deep 
hole,  which  for  four  clays  was  covered  with  offer- 
ings of  bread  and  wine,  a  custom  which  the 
modern  Aztecs  have  not  abandoned. 

These  were  the  funeral  rites  of  the  people  of 
low  condition.  According  to  Gomara,  when  a 
kins  fell  sick  the  face  of  the  idols  of  Huitzili- 
pochtli  and  Tezcatlipoca  were  covered  with 
masks,  which  were  not  removed  until  the  pa- 
tient was  either  cured  or  dead.  As  soon  as  the 
king  expired,  the  news  was  published  with  great 
pomp,  and  all  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom  were  in- 
formed of  the  fact,  in  order  that  they  might  come 
to  assist  at  the  obsequies. 

In  the  meantime  the  royal  body  was  placed 
on  costly  mats,  and  his  servants  mounted  guard 
around  him.  On  the  fourth  or  fifth  day,  when 
the  nobles,  clothed  in  brilliant  costumes,  had 
come  together,  as  well  as  the  slaves  who  were  to 
assist  at  the  ceremony,  the  deceased  was  dressed 
in  some  fifteen  vestments  of  different  colored  cot- 
ton, and  the  body  was  decked  with  jewels  of  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones.  An  emerald  was  at- 
tached to  his  lower  lip  to  serve  him  as  a  heart; 
his  face    was  concealed    under   a  mask;    he   was 


ROYAL   OBSEQUIES.  207 

then  decked  with  the  insignia  of  the  god  of  the 
temple  in  which  his  ashes  were  to  be  deposited. 
In  addition,  a  part  of  his  hair  was  cut  off,  which 
was  placed  with  the  locks  he  wore  in  youth. 
These  relics  were  enclosed  in  a  chest,  upon 
which  was  placed  a  bust  of  stone  or  wood  of  the 
dead  monarch  to  preserve  his  memory.  Then 
the  slave  who  had  been  accustomed  to  assist  him 
in  his  devotions  was  killed,  in  order  that  the  un- 
fortunate beinir  might  continue  his  service  in  the 
other  world. 

The  corpse  was  carried  away,  escorted  by  the 
relatives  and  the  nobles.  The  wives  of  the  de- 
ceased figured  in  the  cortege,  filling  the  air  with 
their  lamentations.  The  nobles  carried  a  large 
standard  of  papyrus,  the  arms  of  the  deceased, 
and  the  royal  insignia.  The  priests  chanted,  but 
without  any  accompaniment  of  instruments. 

The  first  step  of  the  temple  having  been 
reached,  the  high  priests  and  their  acolytes  came 
to  receive  the  body ;  they  placed  it  on  a  funeral 
pile  of  resinous  wood  covered  with  incense. 
While  the  royal  body  was  consuming,  a  number 
of  slaves  that  had  belonged  to  the  king,  togcther 
with  those  offered  by  the  nobles  for  this  solem- 
nity, were  sacrificed.  They  also  sacrificed  some 
of  the  deformed  beings  that  the  king  kept  in  his 
palace  in  order  that  they  might  amuse  their  mas- 
ter in  the  other  world;  a  number  of  his  wives 
were  also  killed.  The  number  of  victims  varied 
with  the  importance  of  the  obsequies  ;   according 


208  THE   AZTECS. 

to  the  generally  accepted  calculations  it  was  not 
far  from  two  hundred,  including  the  techichi,  with- 
out whom  the  deceased  would  not  be  able  to  leave 
the  winding  paths  that  lead  to  the  other  world. 

On  the  following  day  the  ashes  and  teeth  of 
the  deceased  were  collected,  and  then  the  emer- 
ald that  had  been  suspended  from  his  lip ;  all 
these  relics  were  placed  with  his  hair  in  the 
chest,  which  became  a  coffin.  For  four  days 
offerings  of  meats  were  placed  on  the  tomb ;  on 
the  fifth  day  other  slaves  were  sacrificed,  a  cere- 
mony which  was  repeated  on  the  twentieth,  the 
sixtieth,  and  the  eightieth  day.  Dating  from  this 
moment,  throughout  the  following  year,  noth- 
ing was  offered  to  the  dead  but  rabbits,  butter- 
flies, partridges,  and  other  birds ;  after  that  bread, 
wine,  incense,  flowers,  and  pieces  of  bamboo  filled 
with  aromatic  substances.  This  anniversary  of 
the  death  was  celebrated  for  four  years.  Gener- 
ally the  bodies  were  burned,  and  only  those  of 
people  who  drowned  themselves  or  died  of  dropsy 
were  buried. 

The  Aztecs  had  no  cemeteries  properly  speak- 
ing; the  ashes  of  the  dead  were  buried  near  a 
temple,  in  the  fields,  or  on  mountains  on  the  sum- 
mits of  which  they  were  in  the  habit  of  offering 
sacrifices.  The  ashes  of  the  kings  and  of  the 
nobles  were,  as  we  have  seen,  deposited  in  the 
towers  that  surmounted  the  temples. 

In  Mexican  manuscripts  the  dead  are  always 
represented    bundled   up,  the  legs  drawn  up  in 


BURIALS. 


209 


front  of  the  trunk,  the  knees  under  the  chin. 
According  to  the  anonymous  Conqueror  the 
bodies  that  were  buried  were  placed  in  very  deep 
trenches  ;  the  corpse  was  placed  on  a  low  chair, 
with  the  implements  of  his  trade.  Soldiers  were 
interred  with  a  shield  and  sword  ;  women  with  a 
spindle,  a  broom  and  culinary  vessels ;  rich  peo- 
ple with  jewels  and  gold.  Hence,  the  Spaniards 
soon  began  to  rifle  the  tombs,  whence  they  ob- 
tained great  wealth. 

At  first,  the  Chichimecs  interred  their  dead  in 
grottos ;  afterwards,  when  they  became  civilized, 
they  adopted  the  ceremonies  of  the  Alcolhuas. 
which  were  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Aztecs. 

The  Miztecs  preserved  only  a  part  of  the  old 
customs  of  the  Chichimecs.  When  one  of  their 
chiefs  fell  sick  public  prayers  were  said,  and  sacri- 
fices were  offered  to  the  gods  of  his  family.  If 
the  patient  got  better  his  recovery  was  celebrated 
by  feasts ;  if  he  died  he  was  still  spoken  of  as  if 
living.  One  of  his  slaves,  dressed  in  the  clothes 
of  the  deceased,  was  placed  before  his  corpse ;  the 
face  of  this  poor  wretch  was  covered  with  a  mask, 
and  during  a  whole  day  the  same  homage  that  it 
had  been  customary  to  pay  the  deceased  was  paid 
to  him.  At  midnight  four  chiefs  took  possession 
of  the  body  to  bury  it  in  a  forest  or  cave,  —  by 
way  of  preference,  in  one  of  those  considered 
to  be  the  gates  of  paradise.  The  slave  who 
had  taken  his  master's  place  was  then  sacrificed, 
and    buried   with    the    insignia   of   his   ephemeral 

'4 


2IO  THE   AZTECS. 

authority.  Every  year  the  anniversary  of  the  birth 
of  the  deceased  was  celebrated  with  a  feast,  but 
his  death  was  never  mentioned.  The  Zapotecs 
embalmed  the  bodies  of  the  chiefs  of  their  na- 
tion,—  a  custom  that  appears  to  have  also  been 
in  use  among  the  Chichimecs. 

During  the  long  years  that  I  spent  in  Mex- 
ico, I  discovered  in  exploring  the  Atlantic 
slope  of  the  Cordilleras  a  large  number  of 
funeral  caves.  Sometimes  an  Indian  showed 
them  to  me,  but  more  frequently  chance  led  me 
face  to  face  with  these  narrow  openings,  which 
gave  but  little  indication  of  the  wonders  they 
concealed.  The  Mexican  caves,  especially  those 
situated  midway  up  the  mountain  slopes,  are 
difficult  of  access  on  account  of  the  vegetation 
and  asperities  of  the  ground ;  hence  it  is  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  they  can  be 
reached.  In  almost  all  those  I  visited,  whether 
large  or  small,  I  disinterred  small  images  and  vases 
of  terra-cotta.  The  vases,  with  few  exceptions, 
contained  ashes  and  charcoal,  in  the  midst  of 
which  was  found  the  head  of  a  bird  or  of  a  small 
mammal.  Were  these  ashes  the  remains  of  a 
body  that  had  been  burned  ?  I  have  good  rea- 
son to  think  so,  for  the  urns  which  held  them 
were  frequently  covered  with  skulls,  and  I  never 
came  across  any  skeletons.  These  were  not,  I 
must  add,  burial-places  of  the  Aztecs,  but  of  one 
of  the  nations  which  had  lived  before  them  in 
Anahuac. 


BURIAL   GROTTOS.  2  1  I 

What  memories,  what  useless  regrets  have  these 
explorations  left  me !  After  a  rough  ascent,  my 
eyes,  from  the  summit  of  a  crater,  searched  the 
bottoms  of  dark  gorges,  or  wandered  over  the 
peaks  about  me  which  bounded  my  horizon. 
Suddenly,  among  the  rocks  or  trees  beyond  the 
ravine  I  was  surveying,  a  yawning  gap  appeared. 
Seized  by  an  unconquerable  curiosity,  I  imme- 
diately set  out,  and  it  often  required  more  than 
a  day  to  reach  the  desired  place.  How  many 
hours  did  I  lose  in  looking  for  it  amid  the  rocks 
in  the  midst  of  grand  cypress-trees,  whose  posi- 
tion I  had  taken  pains  to  study  carefully,  and 
which  at  close  view  were  confounded  in  a  vexing 
similarity  !  Finally,  having  passed  by  it  twenty 
times  without  perceiving  it,  I  suddenly  found 
myself  before  the  sought-for  goal.  Sometimes  the 
entrance  to  the  grotto  was  very  large,  the  mag- 
nificent vestibule  of  a  mysterious  palace ;  but 
sometimes  also,  it  was  difficult  for  me  to  pass 
through  it.  I  crawled  along,  the  glimmer  of  the 
pine-branch  which  served  me  for  a  torch  scarcely 
penetrating  the  shadows,  and  painting  numbers 
of  many-colored  concentric  circles  in  the  rare, 
moist  air  of  the  dark  cave.  What  was  I  going  to 
find  in  the  unknown  depths  I  was  sounding,  — 
reptiles,  or  wild  beasts?  Panic-stricken,  suddenly 
recalling  his  superstitions,  the  Indian  who  was 
accompanying  me  retraced  his  steps  in  haste,  and 
I  remained  alone.  There  was  no  noise  about  me 
but  the  sound  of   my   breath,  and  the  crackling 


212  THE   AZTECS. 

of  the  resin  of  my  improvised  torch.  My  heart 
began  to  beat,  and  my  mind,  frightened  by  the 
silence  and  the  darkness,  created  chimerical  dan- 
gers. Seized  with  fear  myself,  I  thought  of  re- 
treating ;  but  at  the  end  of  a  passage,  I  suddenly 
perceived  a  number  of  skulls  on  the  ground. 
Nothing  more  was  required  to  put  to  flight  the 
phantoms  of  my  imagination,  —  to  bring  me  back 
to  reality.  Soon,  kneeling  on  the  ground,  I  dug 
into  the  earth  with  my  knife,  or  when  necessary 
with  my  finger-nails,  and  relics  of  olden  times  — 
arrow-heads,  urns,  necklaces,  and  images  of  gods 
—  rewarded  my  boldness. 

Often,  having  traversed  the  narrow  passages,  I 
entered  an  immense  crypt,  where  I  found  marvel- 
lous stalactites.  Rummaging  in  the  most  secret 
corners,  I  made  new  discoveries.  What  archae- 
ological wealth  I  thus  brought  to  light,  and  then 
at  the  moment  of  departure  abandoned  for  want 
of  means  of  carrying  it  away! 

The  caves  of  the  Cordilleras  are  vast  museums. 
When  roads,  or  even  paths  shall  cross  the  almost 
inaccessible  heights  which  I  have  visited,  the 
works  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Anahuac, 
and  documents  concerning  their  history  will  be 
collected  by  thousands.  But  let  us  leave  these 
relics  and  the  future,  and  return  to  the  Aztecs  of 
the  past. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Education.  —  Counsels  of  a  Father  to  his  Son.  —  Coun- 
sels of  a  Mother  to  her  Daughter.  —  Public  Schools. 
—  Seminaries. 

A  WARLIKE  and  cruel  nation,  always  read)' 
to  measure  its  strength  with  its  neighbors, 
with  the  sole  aim  of  despoiling  them  of  their 
wealth,  or  of  sacrificing  them,  must,  apparently, 
have  cared  little  for  justice.  If  we  remember,  in 
addition  to  this,  that  among  this  people,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  ferocious  fanaticism,  the  eating  of 
human  flesh  was  looked  upon  as  an  act  agreeable 
to  the  gods,  it  would  seem  that  all  their  customs 
must  have  been  tainted  by  this  barbarism ;  and 
yet,  —  a  strange  contradiction,  —  a  constant  solici- 
tude for  justice,  and  for  the  general  good  is  found 
both  in  the  political  government  of  the  Aztecs, 
and  in  their  domestic  habits.  The  picture  we  are 
about  to, paint  of  the  partial  civilization,  of  the 
arts,  and  of  the  laws  of  this  people  who  seem 
to  have  lived  only  for  war,  is  of  a  nature  to  sur- 
prise those  who  would  judge  them  solely  by  the 
inhuman  sacrifices  they  offered  to  their  gods. 

The  education  of  its  youth,"  wrote  Clavigero, 
"is  indisputably  the  chief  foundation  of  a  State," 
and  it  is  also  that  which  makes  us  best  acquainted 


214  THE    AZTECS. 

with  a  nation's  character.  Anions:  the  Aztecs 
this  education  was  such  as  to  confound  the  proud 
contempt  which  for  so  many  years  caused  their 
conquerors  to  consider  them  as  hardly  rational 
beings.  In  fact,  it  would  be  difficult  to  name  a 
people  who  paid  more  attention  to  this  point,  so 
important  for  the  strength  and  happiness  of 
States.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  deplorable 
superstitions,  especially  from  a  humanitarian 
point  of  view,  often  gave  a  wrong  direction  to 
the  mind  of  the  Aztec  youth  ;  but  the  zeal  of 
their  parents  to  make  them  moral  was  boundless. 
It  is  so  still. 

In  Anahuac,  all  mothers,  even  the  queens, 
suckled  their  own  children.  If  a  disease  ren- 
dered this  impossible,  the  child  was  not  intrusted 
to  a  foster-mother  until  her  habits  and  her 
health  had  been  carefully  inquired  into.  From 
his  earliest  years  the  child  was  accustomed  to 
hunger,  cold,  and  heat.  At  the  age  of  five, 
whether  the  son  of  a  noble  or  of  the  king,  he  was 
placed  at  school.  If  he  was  to  be  educated  in  the 
paternal  mansion,  his  father  began  by  teaching 
him  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  the  prayers  he 
had  to  repeat  when  he  specially  desired  their  aid  ; 
he  also  took  him  frequently  to  the  temples  to 
arouse  in  him  a  fondness  for  relision. 

Every  care  was  taken  to  inspire  children  with 
a  horror  of  vice,  with  modesty  of  action,  respect 
for  their  elders,  and  love  of  work.  They  were 
made  to  sleep  on  a  mat,  and  were  furnished  with 


EDUCATION.  215 

only  enough  food  to  support  life.  When  they 
reached  the  age  of  puberty  they  were  taught 
the  use  of  arms.  If  they  were  sons  of  soldiers 
they  accompanied  their  fathers  to  battle,  in  order 
that  they  might  learn  the  military  art  and  lose  all 
fear  of  danger.  If  the  father  was  an  artisan  he 
taught  the  young  boy  his  own  trade.  The 
mothers  taught  their  daughters  to  spin  and  weave 
at  an  early  age.  Children  of  both  sexes  were  kept 
constantly  occupied,  —  a  good  and  healthy  rule. 

Truth  was  a  virtue  specially  recommended  by 
parents  to  their  children.  If  they  were  detected 
in  a  lie  their  tongues  were  pricked  with  agave- 
thorns.  The  feet  of  young  girls  who  were  too 
fond  of  running  around  were  bound,  and  a  dis- 
obedient or  quarrelsome  child  was  whipped  with 
nettles,  or  chastised  in  a  manner  proportionate  to 
the  fault. 

A  young  Aztec  was  brought  up  with  such  a 
profound  respect  for  his  parents  that  even  a  long 
time  after  his  marriage — and  this  is  still  true 
—  he  scarcely  dared  speak  in  their  presence. 
However,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  education  which 
he  received,  we  can  do  no  better  than  repro- 
duce two  documents,  frequently  quoted,  and 
which  cannot  be  quoted  too  often  ;  they  are  the 
exhortations  of  a  father  to  his  son,  and  those  of 
a  mother  to  her  daughter,  —  a  code  of  morals 
which  we  cannot  help  admiring:  — 

"  My  son,"  said  the  father,  "  thou  hast  come 
from  the  womb  of  thy  mother  as  a  chicken  comes 


2l6  THE   AZTECS. 

from  the  egg,  and  growing  like  it,  thou  art  pre- 
paring to  fly  in  the  world,  without  its  being  given 
to  us  to  know  how  long  heaven  will  grant  us  the 
enjoyment  of  the  precious  stone  we  possess  in 
thee.  But  happen  what  may,  endeavor  to  live  an 
upright  life,  ceaselessly  praying  God  to  help  thee. 
He  created  thee,  and  to  him  thou  belongest.  He 
is  thy  father,  he  loves  thee  even  more  than  I  love 
thee.  Let  thy  thoughts  be  of  him,  and  address 
thy  sighs  to  him  night  and  day. 

"  Revere  and  salute  thy  elders,  and  never  show 
them  any  sign  of  contempt.  Be  not  silent  to  the 
poor  and  the  unfortunate ;  but  make  haste  to  con- 
sole them  with  kind  words.  Honor  every  one,  but 
especially  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  to  whom  thou 
owest  obedience,  fear,  and  service.  Take  care 
not  to  imitate  the  example  of  those  bad  sons 
who,  like  brutes  devoid  of  reason,  do  not  respect 
those  who  have  given  them  life  ;  who  do  not  listen 
to  their  advice,  and  do  not  wish  to  submit  to  the 
punishments  their  elders  judge  necessary.  He 
who  follows  the  path  of  these  evil-doers  will 
come  to  a  bad  end  ;  he  will  die  in  despair,  thrown 
into  an  abyss,  or  by  the  claws  of  wild  beasts. 

"  Never  mock  at  old  men,  my  son,  nor  at  de- 
formed people.  Do  not  mock  him  whom  thou 
seest  commit  a  fault,  and  do  not  throw  it  in  his 
face.  Enter  into  thyself,  and  fear  lest  that  which 
offends  thee  in  others  may  happen  to  thyself. 
Go  not  whither  no  one  calls  thee,  and  mix  not 
thyself  with    what  does    not    concern   thee.     By 


COUNSELS    OF    AN    AZTEC    FATHER.  217 

thy  words,  as  well  as  by  thy  deeds  endeavor  to 
prove  thy  good  education.  When  thou  talkest 
with  any  one  do  not  take  hold  of  his  garments. 
Do  not  talk  too  much,  and  never  interrupt  others 
with  thy  discourse.  If  thou  nearest  any  one 
speak  foolishly,  if  thou  art  not  charged  with  his 
conduct,  hold  thy  tongue.  If  thou  shouldst  not 
be  silent  weigh  thy  words,  and  do  not  expose  the 
fault  with  arrogance,  lest  thy  lesson  be  not  well 
received. 

"  When  some  one  speaks  to  thee,  hear  him 
with  attention  and  respect,  without  moving  thy 
feet,  without  biting  thy  cloak,  without  spitting, 
and  without  getting  up  every  minute  if  thou 
art  seated  ;  for  these  actions  are  signs  of  levity 
and  of  a  bad  education. 

"  When  thou  art  at  table,  eat  not  too  fast,  and 
show  no  dislike  if  a  dish  displeases  thee.  If  a 
person  arrives  at  thy  meal-time,  divide  thy  meal 
with  him  and  do  not  watch  him  as  he  eats. 

"  When  thou  walkest,  look  whither  thou  goest, 
that  thou  mayst  knock  against  no  one.  If  thou 
meetest  any  one  in  thy  way,  make  room  for  him. 
Never  pass  before  thy  elders,  unless  forced  by 
necessity,  or  unless  they  order  thee  to  do  so. 
When  thou  takest  thy  meal  in  their  company, 
drink  not  before  they  do,  and  offer  them  what 
they  need  in  order  to  gain  their  good-will. 

"  If  thou  art  made  a  present,  accept  it  with 
gratitude.  If  the  gift  is  of  much  value,  be  not 
proud   of  it,  and  if  it   be   of  small  value   do   not 


2l8  THE   AZTECS. 

despise  it  nor  mock  at  it ;  fear  to  wound  him  who 
wished  to  oblige  thee.  If  thou  growest  rich,  be- 
come not  insolent  to  the  poor,  and  humble  them 
not ;  for  the  gods  who  have  refused  them  wealth, 
to  give  it  to  thee,  might  grow  angry  and  take  it 
from  thee  to  favor  another  therewith.  Live  by 
thy  work,  for  thou  shalt  be  only  the  more  happy 
therefor.  I,  my  son,  have  fed  thee  up  to  this  day 
by  my  labor ;  I  have  not  failed  in  my  paternal 
obligations ;  I  have  given  thee  what  was  necessary 
without  taking  it  from  any  one :  do  thou  in  like 
manner. 

"  Never  lie,  for  it  is  a  great  sin.  When  thou 
tellest  any  one  what  has  been  told  thee,  tell  the 
simple  truth,  and  add  nothing  thereto.  Slander 
no  one,  and  be  silent  in  regard  to  the  faults  thou 
seest  in  others,  if  it  is  not  thy  duty  to  correct 
them.  When  thou  takest  a  message,  if  the  one 
who  receives  it  flies  into  a  passion  and  speaks  ill 
of  the  person  who  sent  it,  in  repeating  his  words 
modify  their  severity,  in  order  that  thou  mayst  not 
be  the  cause  of  a  quarrel,  nor  of  a  scandal  for 
which  thou  wouldst  have  to  reproach  thyself. 

"  Lose  not  thy  time  in  the  market,  for  that  is  a 
place  in  which  occasions  for  excesses  are  many. 

"  If  thou  art  offered  an  office,  think  that  it  is  to 
test  thee  and  do  not  accept  immediately ;  even 
shouldst  thou  think  thyself  better  fitted  than  any 
one  else  to  fill  it,  refuse  it  until  thou  art  forced 
to  accept ;  so  wilt  thou  be  the  more  highly 
esteemed. 


COUNSELS  OF  AN  AZTEC  FATHER.     219 

"  Be  not  dissolute ;  the  gods  would  be  angry 
with  thee,  and  would  cover  thee  with  shame. 
My  son,  repress  thy  sensual  appetites,  for  thou 
art  still  young.  Wait  until  the  young  girl  whom 
the  gods  have  destined  for  thy  wife  reaches  the 
right  age  to  marry  thee.  When  that  hour  has 
come  do  not  act  without  the  consent  of  thy 
parents ;  thy  union  would  be  unhappy. 

"  Take  from  no  one  what  is  his ;  thou  wouldst 
become  the  shame  of  thy  people  when  thou 
shouldst  be  their  honor,  as  a  reward  for  the  edu- 
cation they  have  given  thee.  If  thou  art  good 
thy  example  will  confound  the  wicked.  By  these 
counsels  I  wish  to  fortify  thy  heart.  Neither  des- 
pise them  nor  forget  them  ;  thy  life  and  happiness 
depend  on  them." 

Such  were  the  excellent  precepts  the  Aztec 
nobles  sought  to  engrave  on  the  mind  of  their 
sons.  Laborers  and  artisans  added  special  ad- 
vice in  regard  to  the  exercise  of  their  profession. 
The  counsels  which  mothers  gave  their  daughters 
are  too  wise  to  be  omitted. 

"  My  daughter,"  said  the  mother,  "  child  born  of 
my  flesh,  brought  into  the  world  by  my  pains,  fed 
with  my  milk,  I  have  done  my  best  to  bring  thee 
up  well,  and  thy  father  has  cared  for  thee  and  pol- 
ished thee  as  if  thou  wert  an  emerald,  that  thou 
mightst  appear  as  a  jewel  of  virtue  in  the  eyes  of 
men.  Strive  always  to  be  good;  for  if  thou  art 
not  thou  wilt  be  despised,  and  no  one  will 
desire  thee  for  a  wife.     Life  is  laborious,  and  all 


2  20  THE   AZTECS. 

our  strength  is  necessary  to  obtain  the  goods 
which  the  gods  send  us;  thou  must,  therefore, 
be  neither  idle  nor  negligent,  but  active  in  all 
things.  Be  cleanly;  keep  thy  house  in  good 
order.  Give  thy  husband  water  that  he  may 
wash  his  hands  ;  and  knead  the  bread  of  thine  own. 
Wherever  thou  goest  be  modest ;  walk  not  hastily, 
and  never  mock  at  people  whom  thou  meetest ; 
stare  not  at  them,  neither  look  to  the  right  nor 
the  left,  if  thou  dost  not  wish  thy  reputation  to 
suffer.  Answer  with  politeness  those  who  speak 
to  thee  or  salute  thee. 

"  Employ  thy  hours  in  spinning,  in  weaving,  in 
sewing  or  embroidering;  then  thou  wilt  be  es- 
teemed, and  thou  wilt  have  wherewith  to  clothe 
and  feed  thyself.  Do  not  sleep  far  into  the  day, 
rest  not  in  the  shade,  do  not  take  the  air,  aban- 
don not  thyself  to  idleness ;  inaction  gives  birth 
to  slothfulness  and  other  vices. 

"  When  thou  workest,  think  only  of  the  service 
of  the  gods  and  the  welfare  of  thy  kinsfolk.  If 
thy  father  or  I  call  thee,  quickly  run  to  see  what 
we  want  of  thee,  in  order  that  by  delay  thou  mayst 
not  displease  us.  Never  answer  arrogantly,  and 
never  show  repugnance  to  doing  what  thou  art 
commanded.  If  thou  canst  not  accomplish  the 
task  imposed  on  thee,  excuse  thyself  with  humil- 
ity. If  any  one  else  is  called  and  he  does  not 
respond,  answer  in  his  place  ;  do  what  thou  art 
commanded,  and  do  it  well.  Nevertheless,  do  not 
offer  thyself  to  perform  a  task  above  thy  strength. 


COUNSELS    OF    AN    AZTEC    MOTHER.  22  1 

Deceive  no  one ;  the  gods  see  thee.  Live  in 
peace  with  every  one.  Love  every  one  with  re- 
serve, not  forgetting  what  is  proper,  that  every 
one  may  love  thee. 

"  Be  not  miserly  with  the  good  things  the  gods 
have  given  thee.  If  thou  seest  good  things  given 
to  others,  suspect  no  evil ;  for  the  gods,  masters  of 
all  things,  bestow  them  on  whom  they  please. 
If  thou  wishest  others  not  to  injure  thee,  injure 
not  others. 

"  Avoid  indecent  familiarity  with  men  ;  aban- 
don not  thyself  to  the  perverse  appetites  of  thy 
body,  for  thou  wouldst  then  be  the  shame  of  thy 
people,  and  evil  would  pollute  thy  soul  as  mud 
pollutes  water.  Do  not  associate  with  dissolute, 
lying,  or  lazy  women  ;  their  example  would  poison 
thy  heart.  Take  care  of  thine  own  ;  remain  at 
home ;  wander  not  about  the  streets  nor  in  the 
market-place,  for  this  would  be  to  seek  thy  ruin. 
Reflect  that  vice,  like  a  poisonous  plant,  is  death 
to  him  who  tastes  it,  and  that  when  it  has  taken 
possession  of  our  souls  it  is  difficult  to  uproot  it 
If  on  the  street  thou  shouldst  meet  a  bold  young- 
man  who  insults  thee,  pass  on,  answer  him  not, 
heed  him  not.  If  he  follows  thee  look  not  at  him  ; 
he  will  depart  and  leave  thee  in  peace.  Enter  not 
another's  house  except  for  urgent  reason,  in  order 
that  nothing  against  thy  honor  may  be  thought. 
If  thou  goest  into  the  house  of  thy  relatives,  salute 
them  respectfully,  and  then  busy  thyself;  take  a 
spindle  or  employ  thyself  in  necessary  work. 


2  22  THE    AZTECS. 

"When  thou  art  married  respect  thy  husband, 
and  eagerly  obey  him.  Do  not  provoke  him,  and 
be  neither  proud  nor  whimsical  towards  him.  If 
he  frets  thee  for  any  reason  do  not  show  thy 
grief  when  he  commands  thee.  Later  explain  to 
him  thy  trouble  gently,  to  the  end  that  thou 
mayst  disarm  him,  and  prevent  him  from  griev- 
ing- thee  anew.  Ouarrel  not  with  him  before  thine 
own ;  the  shame  would  be  on  thee.  If  any  one 
comes  to  visit  him  be  amiable,  and  receive  him 
the  best  thou  canst.  If  thy  husband  be  angry  be 
thou  calm.  If  he  takes  bad  care  of  thy  affairs 
advise  him  well.  But  if  he  cannot  take  care  of 
them,  take  care  of  them  thyself,  and  pay  thy 
workmen  promptly.  Lose  nothing  for  want  of 
care. 

"  My  daughter,  follow  the  advice  I  give  thee. 
I  am  old,  I  have  the  experience  which  life  gives. 
I  am  thy  mother  and  wish  thee  well.  Engrave 
my  advice  on  thy  heart  and  thou  wilt  be  happy. 
If  by  reason  of  not  having  listened  to  me,  or  by 
contemning  my  teachings  some  misfortune  should 
happen  to  thee,  it  would  be  thy  fault,  and  thou 
wouldst  suffer  therefrom.  May  the  gods  help 
thee  ! " 

In  all  grave  circumstances  of  life  the  Aztecs 
had  principles  like  these,  —  evidence  of  a  severe 
morality.  They  knew  them  by  heart,  repeated 
them  constantly,  and  taught  them  to  their  chil- 
dren. Not  content  with  giving  them  these 
lessons,  at   an   early  age  they   sent  them  to  the 


PUBLIC    SCHOOLS    AND    SEMINARIES.         223 

public  schools  (ttchputcalli),  built  near  the  tem- 
ples, and  in  which,  during  three  years  they  were 
instructed  in  religion.  The  nobles  had  their 
children  educated  in  the  seminaries  (calmccac), 
which  were  very  numerous  in  the  empire.  Priests 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  task  of  instructing  the 
young  were  ceaselessly  occupied  in  these  estab- 
lishments, and  matrons  of  recognized  respecta- 
bility directed  those  in  which  young  girls  were 
received.  No  communication  existed  between 
the  schools  of  the  two  sexes  ;  every  violation  of 
this  rule  was  severely  punished.  We  have  al- 
ready related  that  the  young  patricians  were  em- 
ployed in  the  immediate  service  of  the  sanctuary, 
while  the  plebeians  were  only  occupied  with 
domestic  cares.  However,  they  all  followed  the 
lessons  of  the  professors  charged  with  instructing 
them  in  history,  painting,  music,  —  the  arts  that 
pertained  to  the  class  to  which  they  belonged. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  girls  charged  with  clean- 
ing the  temple  to  rise  three  times  in  the  night  to 
incense  the  idols.  They  prepared  the  meats  in- 
tended for  offerings,  and  wove  all  kinds  of  cloths. 
The  care  of  the  household  was  confided  to  them, 
as  much  to  keep  them  from  idleness  as  to  accus- 
tom them  to  daily  labor.  They  slept  in  large 
halls,  under  the  eye  of  their  female  guardians, 
who  specially  charged  them  to  be  modest,  and 
who  watched  all  their  actions. 

The  young  girls  brought  up  in  these  so-called 
convents   were  much   sought    after  for  wives,  as 


224  THE   AZTECS. 

much  on  account  of  their  morality  as  on  account 
of  their  skill  in  works  suitable  to  their  sex. 

When  a  pupil  went  to  visit  his  parents,  —  a 
thing  which  rarely  happened,  —  he  was  always 
accompanied  by  several  of  his  fellow-scholars, 
and  by  a  superior.  Having  listened  to  the  ad- 
vice which  his  father  gave  him,  the  young  man 
was  immediately  taken  back  to  the  seminary. 

A  member  of  a  seminary  who  did  not  marry 
when  twenty-two  years  of  age  remained  forever 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  gods.  If  after- 
wards he  wished  to  leave  his  state  of  celibacy,  it 
was  difficult  for  him  to  find  a  wife ;  and  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  he  was  looked  upon  as  infamous.  In 
the  republic  of  Tlascala  they  cut  off  the  hair  of 
young  people  who  did  not  marry,  and  that  was 
considered  a  mark  of  dishonor. 

Among  the  Aztecs  the  sons  generally  adopted 
the  trade  of  their  fathers  ;  trades  were  thus  perpet- 
uated in  families.  Young  men  intended  for  the 
magistracy  were  often  taken  to  the  tribunals, 
where  they  learned  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and 
the  practice  and  forms  of  justice. 

The  sons  of  the  kings  and  of  the  nobles  were 
under  the  charge  of  governors,  and  long  before 
they  entered  into  possession  of  the  offices  they 
were  to  fill,  they  were  intrusted  with  the  govern- 
ment of  a  city  or  of  a  district,  in  order  that  they 
might  become  accustomed  to  the  difficult  art  of 
directing  men.  This  wise  custom  was  established 
as  early  as  the  time  of  the  Chichimec  kings. 


CORPORAL    PUNISHMENTS.  225 

Corporal  punishments  were  very  brutal  among 
the  Aztecs,  who  were  unacquainted  with  modera- 
tion. We  have  seen  that  they  punctured  with 
aeave-thorns  the  tongue  of  the  child  who  was 
detected  in  a  lie,  and  that  the  feet  of  young  girls 
who  were  too  fond  of  running  about  were  fet- 
tered. In  cases  of  disobedience  they  pinched 
boys  in  many  parts  of  the  body,  and  girls  only  on 
the  hands.  Whips  figure  in  the  ideographic 
paintings ;  sometimes  they  were  made  of  nettles. 
They  punished  youths  by  burning  their  hair,  or 
pricking  them  with  pointed  pine-branches. 

The  descendants  of  the  Aztecs  have  preserved 
no  traces  of  this  cruelty,  this  unquenchable  thirst 
for  blood,  which  was  the  dominant  trait  of  their 
ancestors.  There  are  no  people  more  submis- 
sive, more  humane,  than  the  modern  Aztec. 
When  his  reason  is  not  clouded  by  drink,  he  is 
gentle  and  kind,  not  only  to  his  family  but  to  his 
neighbors.  Serious  and  thoughtful,  in  his  quar- 
rels he  never  sheds  blood,  rarely  commits  a  mur- 
der, and  strange  to  say,  he  has  not  even  adopted 
the  duel  with  knives,  of  the  Spaniards,  which 
seems  to  be  in  accordance  with  his  instincts. 
The  Aztec,  who  delighted  in  gladiatorial  fights 
and  human  sacrifices,  has  even  renounced  bull- 
fighting, and  he  censures  the  ferocity  of  those 
who  conquered  his  fathers. 


*5 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Administration  of  Justice.  — Courts  and  Judges.  — 
Laws. —  Penalties. —  Prisons. 

THE  ancient  Aztecs  had  many  different  classes 
of  magistrates  and  courts  for  the  administra- 
tion of  justice.  In  Mexico,  as  well  as  in  the 
principal  cities  of  the  empire  there  was  a  supreme 
judge,  called  "  Cihuacoatl,"  so  powerful  that 
there  was  no  appeal  from  his  judgment  even  to 
the  king.  This  magistrate,  who  was  only  occu- 
pied with  criminal  affairs,  appointed  the  inferior 
judges ;  he  also  verified  the  accounts  of  the  tax- 
collectors. 

Below  this  sort  of  viceroy,  there  was  a  tribunal 
composed  of  three  judges,  the  first  of  whom  was 
distinguished  as  the  "  tlacaltecatl."  This  tribunal 
was  a  court  of  first  and  second  resort  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases ;  it  directed  a  certain  number  of 
the  police  officers,  and  held  a  daily  session  in  a 
hall  of  the  "  public  house."  There  the  judges 
heard  the  litigants  with  wonderful  patience,  ex- 
amined the  cases  rapidly,  and  rendered  judgments 
in  accordance  with  the  laws.  If  it  was  a  civil 
case  there  was  no  appeal  ;  if  a  criminal  proceed- 
ing, it  was  submitted  to  the  Cihuacoatl.     In  the 


TRIBUNALS    AND   JUDGES.  227 

Aztec  empire  magistrates  were  treated  with  great 
consideration,  for  they  were  regarded  as  represen- 
tatives of  the  king. 

In  each  quarter  of  the  city,  a  lieutenant  of  tri- 
bunal, elected  by  his  fellow-citizens,  first  judged 
the  cases  in  his  district,  and  explained  his  de- 
crees to  the  Cihuacoatl.  Below  him  were  com- 
missioners also  elected  by  the  people.  These 
commissioners  pronounced  no  judgments;  they 
simply  watched  over  the  maintenance  of  order. 
Legal  notices  were  served  by  couriers ;  police 
officers  made  arrests. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Alcolhuacan,  justice  was 
administered  in  the  six  principal  cities.  The 
judges  were  required  to  sit  in  court  from  sunrise 
to  sunset,  and  to  take  their  meals  in  the  audience- 
hall,  in  order  to  be  free  from  family  cares,  and  thus 
to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  all  seduction.  Like 
the  Aztec  judges,  they  owned  lands,  and  slaves 
charged  with  cultivating  them.  This  property, 
which  was  inalienable,  belonged  to  the  office  and 
not  to  the  man. 

In  grave  matters,  at  least  in  the  capital,  the 
judges  gave  no  decrees  until  they  had  advised 
with  the  king;  they  met  and  consulted  with  him 
every  twentieth  day  to  settle  pending  cases.  If 
the  cases  were  too  complicated  they  were  re- 
served for  a  still  more  solemn  session  which  took 
place  every  eighty  days,  and  at  which  the  differ- 
ences were  settled.  Then  the  king  pronounced 
judgment  by  drawing  a  line  across    the   painted 


228  THE    AZTECS. 

face  of  the  accused  with  an  arrow,  whereupon  the 
verdict  was  immediately  executed. 

The  Aztecs  probably  pleaded  their  own  cases, 
for  we  do  not  know  whether  they  had  lawyers.  In 
criminal  cases  the  accuser  could  make  no  charge 
unless  supported  by  witnesses,  but  the  accused 
had  a  right  to  defend  himself  under  oath.  In 
cases  concerning  the  boundaries  of  landed  prop- 
erty recourse  was  had  to  the  official  paintings, 
which  took  the  place  of  authentic  writings. 

It  was  the  duty  of  magistrates  to  decide  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  con- 
forming to  the  texts  formulated  in  the  paintings. 
Among  the  Aztecs  the  laws  were  at  first  made 
by  the  priests,  and  subsequently  by  the  nobility. 
From  the  reign  of  Itzacoatl,  the  sovereigns  be- 
came the  legislators  of  the  nation ;  and,  while 
they  governed  with  their  earlier  powers,  they  care- 
fully superintended  the  execution  of  the  laws  pro- 
mulgated by  themselves  or  by  their  predecessors. 
In  the  last  years  of  the  monarchy,  despotism  sub- 
verted justice  to  its  whims,  and  favoritism  took  the 
place  of  equity. 

We  shall  now  quote  some  of  the  laws  in  force 
among  the  Aztecs  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards.  In  some  we  shall  find  traits  of  wisdom, 
and  of  humanity,  and  an  ardent  zeal  for  morality; 
in  others,  a  severity,  a  harshness,  that  often  degen- 
erates into  cruelty.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  Mexican  lawgivers  had  to  govern  rude  men, 
accustomed    to   despise    physical    suffering,    and 


LAWS  229 

whom  they  could  not   keep    within    the    bounds 
of  duty,  except  by  striking  them  with  terror. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  political  laws:  — 

A  traitor  to  the  king  or  to  the  State  was  quar- 
tered ;  those  of  his  relatives  who  had  known  of 
his  designs  and  had  not  discovered  them,  were 
made  slaves. 

The  man  who  usurped  the  insignia  of  the  king, 
or  of  the  Cihuacoatl,  was  killed,  and  his  property 
confiscated;  his  wife  and  sons  were  imprisoned. 

The  person  who  misused  an  ambassador,  a 
minister,  or  a  courier,  was  punished  with  death. 
But  neither  the  ambassador  nor  the  courier  could 
leave  the  road  prescribed  for  them  without  losing 
their  inviolability. 

They  condemned  to  death  those  who  excited 
the  people  to  revolt,  or  who  displaced  or  destroyed 
the  boundaries  of  landed  property.  The  same 
penalty  was  inflicted  on  judges  who  pronounced 
an  unjust  sentence  or  one  contrary  to  the  laws, 
and  on  those  who  made  an  inexact  report  to  the 
king  or  to  the  supreme  magistrate,  or  who  allowed 
themselves  to  be  corrupted  with  presents. 

The  man  who  in  war  attacked  the  enemy  with- 
out the  order  of  his  leader,  or  who  abandoned  his 
Mag,  was  beheaded. 

Whoever  altered  the  measures  established  by 
the  magistrates  was  punished  with  death ;  the 
execution  immediately  followed   the  sentence. 

We  shall  now  save  some  of  the  laws  relating  to 
civil  matters :  — 


230 


THE   AZTECS. 


The  murderer  was  punished  with  death,  even  if 
his  victim  was  his  slave.  A  husband  who  killed  his 
wife  when  he  discovered  her  in  adultery  was  exe- 
cuted ;  for  it  was  considered  that  he  had  usurped 
the  rights  of  the  magistrates,  who  alone  were  au- 
thorized to  judge  and  inflict  punishment.  Adul- 
tery was  punished  with  death,  and  the  parties 
thereto,  after  being  stoned,  had  their  heads 
crushed.  Intercourse  between  a  married  man 
and  an  unmarried  girl  was  not  regarded  as  adul- 
tery;  which  proves  that  greater  conjugal  fidelity 
was  required  of  a  woman  than  of  a  man.  The 
adulterer  was  punished  throughout  the  empire, 
but  in  some  cities  more  severely  than  in  others. 
In  Ichcatlan  the  adulteress  was  taken  before  the 
court ;  if  the  proofs  of  her  guilt  were  convincing, 
she  was  quartered  forthwith,  and  the  judges  di- 
vided her  members  among  them.  In  Istepec,  the 
law  ordered  the  husband  to  cut  off  the  nose  and 
ears  of  his  unfaithful  wife.  The  husband  who, 
knowing  the  irregularities  of  his  wife,  continued 
to  cohabit  with  her,  was  punished  with  death. 

A  man  could  not  repudiate  his  wife  without  the 
authorization  of  the  magistrates.  He  was  obliged 
to  appear  before  them  and  tell  his  grievances. 
The  judges  exhorted  him  to  concord,  and  tried  to 
dissuade  him  ;  if  he  persisted  in  his  intention, 
and  if  his  motives  were  good,  he  was  allowed  to 
act  as  he  saw  fit,  but  his  divorce  was  not  looked 
upon  with  favor.  Once  separated  he  could  never 
take  back  the  woman  he  had  repudiated. 


CIVIL   LAWS.  231 

Incest  among  blood  relations  of  the  first  degree 
was  punished  with  death.  Marriages  between  re- 
latives was  severely  prohibited,  except  between 
brother-in-law  and  sister-in-law,  as  we  have  already 
noted.  Among  the  Aztecs,  as  among  the  He- 
brews, a  man  often  married  his  brother's  widow 
when  she  had  children.  On  the  borders  of  the 
empire  the  nobles  at  times  married  their  step- 
mother, if  she  had  had  no  child.  In  Mexico 
these  unions  were  regarded  as  incestuous,  and 
punished  as  such. 

A  layman  convicted  of  a  crime  against  nature 
was  hanged ;  the  culprit,  if  a  priest,  was  burned 
alive.  Among  all  the  nations  of  Anahuac,  the 
laws  were  merciless  in  regard  to  those  crimes 
reputed  abominable. 

The  priest  who,  when  connected  with  a  temple, 
abused  a  young  girl  was   degraded  and  disgraced. 

The  Aztecs  singed  the  hair  of  courtesans  with 
burning  branches  of  pine,  and  smeared  their  heads 
with  the  resin  of  the  same  tree.  The  higher  the 
class  to  which  these  unfortunates  belonged,  the 
more  severe  was  the  punishment  they  suffered. 

A  woman  who  dressed  herself  in  man's  clothes, 
or  a  man  who  dressed  himself  as  a  woman,  was 
punished  with  death. 

A  petty  thief  was  simply  required  to  return 
what  he  had  stolen  ;  this  custom  still  exists.  But 
if  the  amount  was  large  the  culprit  became  the 
slave  of  the  person  he  had  robbed.  If  the  stolen 
article  had  been  destroyed,  and  the  thief  had  no 


22,2  THE    AZTECS. 

other  possessions,  he  was  stoned.  If  the  stolen 
article  was  of  gold,  or  was  a  jewel,  the  thief,  hav- 
ing first  been  led  about  the  streets  of  the  city, 
was  sacrificed  at  the  feast  which  the  silversmiths 
and  jewellers  offered  to  the  god  Xipe.  The  per- 
son who  appropriated  a  certain  number  of  ears  of 
corn,  or  who  took  a  useful  plant  from  the  field, 
became  the  slave  of  the  owner  of  the  property. 
Poor  travellers,  however,  were  allowed  to  gather, 
while  on  their  journey,  whatever  fruits  or  corn 
they  required  to  satisfy  their  hunger. 

The  man  who  stole  anything  in  the  market  was 
subjected  to  the  punishment  of  the  bastinado. 
At  the  present  day  he  receives  a  number  of  blows 
with  the  flat  side  of  a  sabre.  The  theft  of  mili- 
tary standards  was  punished  with  death.  The 
man  who,  meeting  lost  children,  sold  them  as  if 
they  were  his  own,  lost  his  liberty  and  his  goods. 
Half  of  his  property  went  to  his  victims,  and  the 
other  half  served  to  indemnify  the  purchasers  for 
the  amount  they  had  paid  for  them.  If  there 
were  several  guilty  parties,  all  suffered  the  same 
punishment.  A  man  that  sold  lands  of  which  he 
was  a  simple  tenant  was  treated  in  the  same 
manner. 

Guardians  who  rendered  false  accounts  were 
hanged,  —  a  fate  which  also  befell  young  people 
who  spent  the  paternal  inheritance  to  satisfy  their 
vices;  since  it  was  regarded  as  a  crime  to  squan- 
der the  fortune  amassed  by  the  labors  of  their 
fathers. 


PUNISHMENTS. 


233 


The  Aztecs  sacrificed  to  the  gods  those  who 
made  use  of  witchcraft,  and  drunkenness  in  young 
people  was  a  capital  crime.  If  the  culprit  was  a 
young  man,  he  died  under  the  rod  ;  if  a  young 
q-irl,  she  was  stoned.  In  men  of  mature  agfe  this 
crime  was  punished  severely,  but  not  with  death. 
If  the  culprit  belonged  to  the  nobility,  he  was 
deprived  of  his  title,  and  he  remained  disgraced ; 
if  a  plebeian,  his  hair  was  cut  off,  —  a  dreaded 
punishment,  —  and  his  dwelling  was  destroyed; 
since  they  regarded  a  man  who  willingly  de- 
prived himself  of  reason  as  unfit  to  live  among 
men.  Nevertheless,  they  permitted  drunkenness 
on  the  occasion  of  wedding  banquets  and  other 
fetes,  on  condition  that  the  drinkers  should  not 
show  themselves  in  public.  This  law  did  not 
apply  to  those  who  had  passed  their  sixtieth 
year,  —  an  age  at  which  discretion  in  the  matter 
of  drink  was  allowed. 

In  spite  of  the  severity  of  these  last  laws,  the 
Aztecs  did  not  consider  themselves  as  responsible 
for  evil  deeds  committed  when  they  were  intoxi- 
cated ;  and  Sahagun  states  that  they  became 
intoxicated,  or  feigned  drunkenness  to  justify 
themselves  for  the  crimes  they  were  dragged  into. 
In  this  respect  they  surpassed  our  experts  in  medi- 
cal jurisprudence,  who  now  ask  pardon  for  the 
greatest  criminals  in  the  name  of  alcoholism,  —  as 
if  man  is  not  free  to  preserve  his  sobriety.  The 
Mexican  laws  show  us  a  just  and  moral  people, 
protecting    the    family,    manners,    property,    and 


234  THE   AZTECS. 

liberty  of  conscience,  and  requiring  that  respect 
for  authority  without  which  all  government  be- 
comes impossible.  Do  we  not  find  in  this  fruitful 
germs  of  civilization  ? 

Slavery,  in  very  mild  forms,  existed  among  the 
Aztecs,  who  had  three  classes  of  slaves,  —  prisoners- 
of-war,  citizens  who  sold  themselves,  and  crimi- 
nals deprived  of  their  liberty  as  a  punishment. 

It  was  provided  that  the  sale  of  a  slave  should 
be  made  before  four  witnesses  of  age,  and  the 
contract  was  publicly  ratified.  The  slave  might 
possess  property,  acquire  lands,  and  purchase 
slaves  himself  to  serve  him,  without  his  master 
being  able  to  prevent  him  from  employing  them. 
Slavery  was  not  hereditary  in  Anahuac;  every 
man  was  born  free,  even  the  children  of  slaves. 
If  a  free  man  had  illicit  intercourse  with  a  slave, 
who  died  while  enceinte,  the  guilty  one  became  the 
property  of  the  owner  of  the  woman. 

The  poor  sold  one  or  more  of  their  children 
to  alleviate  their  poverty,  and  every  free  man  had 
a  right  to  sell  his  liberty  for  the  same  reason. 
Masters  could  not  sell  a  slave  without  his  consent. 
Fugitive,  refractory,  or  vicious  slaves  were  warned 
two  or  three  times  by  their  masters,  who,  for 
their  future  justification,  always  had  witnesses  to 
their  good  counsels.  When  the  slave  did  not 
improve,  a  wooden  collar  was  placed  about  his 
neck,  and  he  was  sold  in  the  public  market.  If 
the  slave  was  still  rebellious  after  having  changed 
masters  three  times,  he  was  sold  for  the  public 


SLAVERY. 


235 


sacrifices ;  this,  however,  was  rarely  done.  The 
slave  "  with  the  collar "  who  fled  from  the 
house  of  his  master  and  took  refuse  in  the  kinsr's 
palace  became  free.  Those  who  prevented  him 
from  reaching  this  asylum,  with  the  exception 
of  his  master  and  his  master's  sons,  lost  their 
liberty. 

Those  who  sold  themselves  were  ordinarily 
gamblers  who  satisfied  their  passion  at  the  price 
of  their  independence,  or  indolent  people  who 
wished  to  live  in  idleness,  or  courtesans  fond  of 
dress.  Slavery  was  not  repugnant  to  the  Aztecs, 
for  the  condition  of  the  slaves  was  not  at  all 
severe  or  infamous.  They  were  well-treated, 
worked  moderately,  and  often  were  freed  on  the 
death  of  their  master. 

According  to  Sahagun,  when  a  cycle  was 
drawing  to  its  close  the  people  and  the  nobles, 
in  consequence  of  a  superstition,  were  seized 
by  a  fear  of  famine.  If  these  fears  were  real- 
ized, the  head  of  a  family  often  engaged  to  per- 
petually furnish  one  of  the  great  feudatories 
with  one  or  more  slaves  in  exchange  for  pro- 
visions. On  such  occasions  he  gave  him  one  of 
his  children,  and  at  a  stated  period  took  the  child 
back,  putting  one  of  his  brothers  in  his  place. 
A  number  of  poor  families  contracted  these  ob- 
ligations in  the  year  of  famine,  1505;  Moteuc- 
zoma  II.  from  a  feeling  of  justice,  liberated  all 
slaves   of  noble   origin. 

The   Aztec  laws   did    not   find    such    genuine 


236  THE   AZTECS. 

favor  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  that  there  were 
not  frequent  variations  from  them.  The  Mexi- 
cans, like  the  Romans,  did  not  force  the  nations 
whom  they  conquered  to  adopt  their  gods,  their 
laws,  or  to   speak  their  language. 

The  system  of  laws  of  the  kingdom  of  Alcol- 
hua  closely  resembled  that  of  its  allies,  but  it 
was,  if  anything,  still  more  severe. 

According  to  the  laws  promulgated  by  the 
celebrated  poet  and  philosopher-king,  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  the  thief  was  dragged  through  the  streets, 
then  strangled,  and  the  murderer  beheaded.  The 
person  convicted  of  exciting  discord  between 
two  States  was  tied  to  a  tree  and  burned  alive. 
A  person  who  became  intoxicated,  if  he  belonged 
to  the  nobility,  was  strangled  and  his  body 
thrown  into  a  lake  or  river;  if  a  plebeian,  he 
lost  his  liberty,  but  it  was  only  on  the  second 
offence  that  he  was  punished  with  death.  A 
lawgiver,  having  been  asked  why  he  was  more 
severe  towards  a  noble  than  towards  a  plebeian, 
answered :  "  It  is  because  the  crime  of  the  first 
is  more  serious,  since  he  ought  to  show  a  good 
example."  The  same  king  ordered  that  histo- 
rians who  recorded  facts  incorrectly  in  their 
paintings  should  be  punished  with  death. 

The  Tlascaltecs  adopted  this  same  code  to  a 
great  extent.  Among  them  the  son  who  was 
wanting  in  respect  for  his  father  was  punished 
with  death  or  exiled.  The  crimes  which  the 
civilized  nations  of  Anahuac  punished  with  the 


PRISONS. 


?37 


greatest  severity  were  homicide,  theft,  perjury,  and 
adultery. 

Hanging  seems  to  have  been  the  most  dishon- 
orable punishment  inflicted  on  evil-doers  by  the 
Mexican  legislators.  Exile  was  also  regarded  as 
infamous,  for  it  supposed  that  the  culprit  was 
guilty  of  a  contagious  vice.  The  whip,  in  spite 
of  the  assertions  of  some  historians,  was  only 
used  to   punish  children. 

There  were  two  sorts  of  prisons  in  the  empire ; 
some  called  "  teilpiloyan,"  intended  for  debtors 
who  refused  to  pay,  and  for  people  convicted  of 
crimes  not  punishable  with  death ;  the  others, 
"  cuauhcalli,"  which  were  smaller  and  constructed 
in  the  form  of  a  cage  with  narrow  doors,  served 
for  prisoners  reserved  for  the  sacrifices,  and  for 
those  condemned  to  death.  Little  food  was  ofiven 
to  the  latter,  with  the  intention  of  making  them 
feel  the  bitterness  of  the  punishment  in  advance. 
On  the  contrary,  prisoners-of-war  were  abundantly 
fed,  so  that  they  might  remain  strong  and  healthy 
until  the  hour  of  sacrifice.  If,  through  the  neg- 
ligence of  the  guards,  a  prisoner  escaped,  the  in- 
habitants of  the  quarter  in  which  the  prison  was 
situated  paid  the  owner  of  the  fugitive  a  certain 
number  of  cotton  garments. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Military  Institutions.  —  The  Army  and  its  Chiefs.  — 
Offensive  and  Defensive  Arms.  —  Standards.  —  Dec- 
laration of  War.  —  Beginning  of  a  Campaign.  —  For- 
tifications. 

IN  the  Mexican  empire,  which  was  essentially  an 
empire  of  conquerors,  no  profession  was  held 
in  higher  esteem  than  that  of  arms.  We  have 
seen  that  the  god  of  war  was  the  most  highly 
venerated  of  all  the  Aztec  divinities,  and  that  he 
was  the  protecting  deity  of  the  nation.  We  have 
also  seen  that  no  prince  ever  obtained  the  su- 
preme power  without  first  having  given  proofs  of 
valor  or  of  military  talent,  and  unless  he  merited 
the  title  of  general.  Once  elected  king  he  could 
not  assume  the  diadem  until  he  had  captured  the 
prisoners  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  sacrifice  on 
the  occasion  of  his  coronation. 

All  the  Aztec  kings  from  Itzacoatl  to  Cuauh- 
temotzin,  passed  from  the  command  of  the  army 
to  the  throne.  The  great  esteem  professed  by  the 
Mexicans  for  the  military  career  induced  them  to 
train  their  sons  to  be  courageous,  and  to  harden 
them  from  childhood  for  the  fatigues  of  war.  For 
them  the  happiest  souls  in  the  other  world  were  the 
souls  of  warriors  who  had  died  in  defending  their 


THE   ARMY. 


239 


country.  This  high  idea  of  the  glory  of  arms 
formed  the  heroes  that  rendered  the  Aztec  nation 
illustrious,  and  made  it  victorious  everywhere. 
Thus  from  the  humblest  origin  it  rapidly  raised 
itself  to  the  first  rank,  and  from  the  shores  of  the 
lake  near  which  it  was  built,  emerging  from  a 
state  of  servitude,  it  soon  extended  its  authority 
over  all  the  countries  situated  between  the  two 
oceans. 

The  highest  military  dignity  was  that  of  gen- 
eral ;  but,  under  this  appellation  four  classes  of 
leaders,  possessing  special  insignia,  were  included. 
The  most  important  of  these  chiefs  was  called 
by  the  name  of  Tlacochacatl  ("  prince  of  arrows  "). 
We  do  not  know  what  relations  he  had  with 
the  other  generals,  for  the  earliest  historians,  neg- 
lecting the  question  of  rank,  have  confounded  all 
grades.  After  these  dignitaries  came  the  captains, 
each  of  whom  commanded  from  two  to  three 
hundred  men. 

To  reward  the  officers  and  excite  their  emula- 
tion, the  Mexicans  created  three  military  orders, 
under  the  denominations  of  Achcauhtin  (  "  prin- 
ces ") ;  Cuauhtin  ("  eagles  ") ;  Oceotl  ("  tigers  "). 
The  most  distinguished  among  the  princes  were 
those  who  besides  gained  the  title  of  Cuachictin 
("  commander  of  the  eagles  ").  These  then  wore 
their  hair  raised  on  the  top  of  their  heads  by  means 
of  a  red  cord,  from  which  hung  as  many  tassels  as 
they  had  accomplished  feats  in  war.  After  twenty 
brilliant  actions  they  had  a  right  to  shave  their 


240 


THE    AZTECS. 


heads,  and  then  to  paint  half  of  the  face  red  and 
the  other  half  yellow.  These  signs  of  distinction 
were  so  highly  appreciated  that  not  only  the  gen- 
erals, but  the  kings  were  proud  to  wear  them. 
Moteuczoma  II.  and  Tizoc  belonged  to  this  order, 
—  a  fact  shown  by  their  portraits. 

The  Tigers,  as  a  distinctive  sign,  wore  on  their 
backs  an  armor  of  cotton  painted  in  a  manner  to 
resemble  the  skin  of  the  animal  whose  name  they 
bore.  Military  insignia  were  only  worn  when  in 
the  field ;  at  court  all  the  clothes  were  of  the 
same  kind,  differing  only  in  color. 

Young  men  who  took  the  field  for  the  first 
time  wore  nothing  but  large  coarse  coats  of  cloth 
made  of  agave-fibre.  This  rule  was  so  rigorously 
observed  that  the  king's  own  sons  had  to  give 
proofs  of  their  valor  before  they  were  authorized 
to  exchange  this  clothing  for  any  other. 

Those  who  possessed  a  military  order  had  the 
right,  when  they  were  on  guard,  to  lodge  in  the 
palace  of  the  king.  They  were  allowed  to  use 
golden  utensils,  to  clothe  themselves  with  the 
finest  materials,  and  to  wear  girdles  lighter  than 
those  of  the  people,  —  a  privilege  that  was  never 
granted  to  soldiers  until  they  had  merited  ad- 
vancement. A  garment  of  a  special  form  {ilac- 
atziuhque)  was  the  reward  of  those  soldiers  who, 
seeing  the  army  weaken,  succeeded  in  reviving  its 
courage  by  their  words  or  their  example. 

In  war,  the  king  wore,  besides  this  armor, 
special  insignia ;   on  his  feet  he  wore  low  boots, 


ARMS    AND    ARMOR. 


241 


ornamented  with  plates  of  gold,  and  on  his  arms 
bracelets  inlaid  with  fine  stones.  He  suspended 
emeralds  mounted  in  gold  from  his  lower  lip,  and 
from  his  ears.  Around  his  neck  he  placed  a  chain 
made  of  gold  and  diamonds,  and  on  his  head  a 
bunch  of  magnificent  feathers  {quiatchatli). 

The  offensive  and  defensive  arms  which  the 
Mexicans,  as  well  as  the  other  nations  of  Ana- 
huac  used,  were  of  great  variety.  Among  the 
defensive  arms  was  the  "chimalli"  (fig.  15),  a  sort 
of  shield  common  to  both  officers  and  soldiers. 
They  were  made  of  various  materials  and  of 
different  shapes,  but  the  round  form  prevailed. 
Generally  they  were  made  of  flexible  pieces  of 
bamboo,  held  in  place  by  coarse  cotton  thread ; 
those  of  the  nobles  were  covered  with  feathers  or 
leaves  of  gold.  Others  consisted  of  a  simple  tor- 
toise-shell ornamented  with  copper,  silver,  or  gold, 
according  to  the  rank  or  fortune  of  its  owner. 
There  were  some  large  enough  to  cover  the  entire 
body ;  by  means  of  a  mechanism  somewhat  re- 
sembling that  of  our  umbrellas,  they  could  be 
shut  up  and  carried  under  the  arm.  Others,  of 
small  dimensions,  decorated  with  feathers,  and 
more  ornamental  than  useful,  were  used  in  the 
mimic  combats  of  the  dances. 

One  of  the  defensive  arms  of  the  officers  con- 
sisted in  a  coat  of  cotton  two  fingers  thick,  which 
resisted  arrows  so  well  that  the  Spaniards  has- 
tened to  adopt  it.  Over  this  cuirass  [ichcahui- 
pilh),  which  covered  only  half  the  body,  another, 

16 


Fig.  15.  —  Offensive  and  Defensive  Arms  of  the  Aztecs.    (Museum 

of  Trocadero.) 


ARMS    AND    ARMOR. 


243 


ornamented  with  different-colored  feathers,  long 
enough  to  protect  the  fore-arms  and  the  thighs, 
was  placed.     The  nobles  often  put  one  of  these 


Fig.  16.  —  Terra-cotta  Head  of  Soldier,  with  Helmet.    (Collec- 
tion of  the  Author.) 

garments  of  feathers  over  a  cuirass  formed  of 
plates  of  gold  and  of  silver;  and  this  armor,  im- 
penetrable to  arrows,  at  a  later  date  resisted  the 
swords  and  pikes  of  the  Europeans.     The  officers 


244 


THE    AZTECS. 


wore  wooden  casques,  representing  the  head  of  an 
eagle,  of  a  tiger,  or  of  a  serpent,  with  the  mouth 
open  and  the  teeth  salient,  for  the  purpose  of  ter- 
rifying the  enemy  (fig.  16).  These  helmets  were 
surmounted  with  large  plumes,  intended  to  make 
the  stature  of  the  wearer  appear  greater.  The 
simple  soldiers  were  naked,  their  loins  surrounded 
with  the  girdle  {niaxatl)  required  by  decency ; 
they  supplied  the  place  of  clothes  by  painting 
their  bodies  in  different  colors. 

The  offensive  arms  were  the  bow,  the  sling,  the 
tomahawk,  the  lance,  the  sword,  and  the  javelin. 
The  bow  {tlahuitolli)  was  made  of  flexible  wood  ; 
its  string,  of  tendons  of  animals,  or  of  deer-skin 
braided.  Sometimes  these  arms  were  of  such 
dimensions  that  the  cord  was  five  feet  in  length. 
For  arrows  (mill)  they  used  rods  to  the  extremity 
of  which  was  fixed  a  pointed  bone,  a  fish-bone,  or 
heads  made  of  flint  or  obsidian.  The  Mexicans 
practised  the  use  of  the  bow  from  their  child- 
hood ;  and,  stimulated  by  the  rewards  which 
their  teachers  or  fathers  gave  them,  became  won- 
derfully expert  in  its  use.  The  inhabitants  of 
Tehuacan,  among  others,  were  renowned  for 
their  skill  in  shooting  three  or  four  arrows  at  the 
same  time.  At  the  present  time  the  barbarous 
Indians  of  the  frontiers  still  use  the  bow  with 
fearful  dexterity.  None  of  the  nations  of  Ana- 
huac,  with  the  exception  of  the  Seris,  a  tribe 
of  Senove,  ever  made  use  of  poisoned  arrows. 
This  was  doubtless  owins:  to  the  fact   that  their 


ARMS    AND    ARMOR.  245 

main  object  was  to  secure  prisoners  for  the 
sacrifices. 

The  "  macahuitl "  which  took  the  place  of  the 
sword  in  the  hands  of  the  Aztecs,  was  made  of  a 
stick  three  feet  long,  armed  on  its  two  sides  with 
sharp  plates  of  obsidian  fixed  with  gum-lac. 
These  plates,  four  fingers  broad  and  two  long, 
were  equal  in  thickness  to  the  old  sword  blades. 
They  cut  so  well  that  the  anonymous  Conqueror 
relates  having  seen  an  Aztec  open  the  breast  of  a 
horse  with  a  single  stroke  of  his  sword.  But  this 
weapon  soon  became  blunt  and  useless.  The  sol- 
diers carried  it  attached  to  the  arm  in  order  that 
it  might  not  escape  from  their  hands  when  they 
struck  with  it  (fig.  15). 

The  Mexican  pikes  were  armed  with  points  of 
stone  or  copper,  instead  of  iron.  The  Chinantecs, 
and  many  other  peoples  of  the  country  of  Chiapan, 
used  pikes  eighteen  feet  long,  which  Cortez  after- 
wards used  against  the  cavalry  of  his  rival,  Panfilo 
Narvaez. 

The  "  tlacochtli,"  dart  or  javelin,  was  a  stake, 
of  which  the  point,  hardened  in  the  fire,  some- 
times ended  in  a  stone,  a  bone,  or  a  copper 
head.  The  end  of  the  dart  was  often  divided 
into  three  barbs;  hence  it  was  a  terrible  weapon. 
It  was  thrown  with  a  cord  attached  to  it,  so  that 
it  might  be  drawn  back  when  it  had  struck  an 
enemy.  The  Spaniards  feared  this  weapon  more 
than  any  other,  for  it  was  often  thrown  with  such 
force  that  it  went  through  a  man's  body  (fig.  15). 


246  THE    AZTECS. 

In  war  the  soldiers  generally  were  armed  with  a 
sword,  a  bow,  a  dart,  and  a  sling.  It  is  to  be 
noticed  that  none  of  the  peoples  of  Anahuac 
made  use  of  the  axe  as  a  weapon  of  war. 

The  Aztecs  had  standards  more  like  the  sic- 
num  of  the  Romans  than  like  our  flags.  These 
were  staffs  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  crowned  with 
the  arms  or  the  insignia  of  the  State,  represented 
by  means  of  feathers.  The  insignia  of  the  Mexi- 
can empire  was  an  eagle  ready  to  swoop  down 
upon  a  bird.  The  standard  taken  by  Cortez 
himself,  in  the  famous  battle  of  Otompan,  repre- 
sented a  golden  net,  probably  the  emblem  of  one 
of  the  cities  built  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  of 
Tezcoco. 

Besides  the  principal  standard  of  the  army, 
each  company  had  one  which,  together  with  the 
color  of  the  feathers  with  which  its  chiefs  decorated 
themselves,  served  to  distinguish  it.  The  stand- 
ard of  the  army  was  carried  by  the  general,  those 
of  the  companies  by  an  officer.  The  latter  at- 
tached the  staff  so  firmly  to  his  shoulder  that  no 
one  could  take  it  without  killing  the  bearer.  The 
Aztecs  always  placed  the  principal  standard  in 
the  midst  of  the  soldiers ;  the  Tlascaltecs  had  it 
carried  by  the  advance-guard  while  on  the  march, 
and  by  the  rear-guard  in  battle. 

The  military  music  of  the  Aztecs,  more  noisy 
than  harmonious,  was  produced  by  drums,  trump- 
ets, and  conchs,  which  gave  forth  shrill  sounds. 
Bernal  Diaz,  along  time  after  the  siege  of  Mexico, 


DECLARATION    OF    WAR.  247 

recalled  with  terror  the  lugubrious  sounds  of  the 
trumpet  of  Cuautemotzin. 

Before  every  declaration  of  war  the  council  of 
the  king  examined  its  cause,  which  was  generally 
the  rebellion  of  a  city  or  of  a  province,  or  a  desire 
to  avenge  the  assassination  of  a  courier  or  of  a  sub- 
ject of  the  emperor,  or  an  insult  offered  to  an  am- 
bassador. If  there  was  reason  to  complain  of  the 
governor  of  a  province,  he  was  taken  to  Mexico  to 
be  punished.  If  the  people  took  part  in  a  revolt, 
satisfaction  was  asked  of  them,  in  the  name  of  the 
king,  and  if  they  humbled  themselves  they  were 
pardoned.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  answered  arro- 
gantly, refused  to  submit,  and  insulted  the  messen- 
gers sent  to  them,  the  council  deliberated ;  then 
war  having  been  decided  upon,  the  generals  were 
advised  of  it.  Sometimes  the  king,  the  better  to 
justify  his  conduct,  despatched  three  ambassadors 
successively  to  the  factions.  The  first  addressed 
himself  to  the  head  of  the  guilty  city  or  nation, 
demanded  satisfaction,  and  fixed  the  time  at 
which  a  reply  was  to  be  given,  under  pain  of 
being  treated  as  an  enemy.  The  second  am- 
bassador addressed  himself  to  the  nobility,  pray- 
ing them  to  induce  their  head  to  escape,  by  his 
submission,  the  punishment  that  awaited  him. 
Lastly,  the  third  ambassador  addressed  himself 
to  the  people,  and  explained  the  causes  of  war  to 
them.  The  reasons  advanced  by  the  ambassadors 
were  often  so  efficacious,  and  they  set  forth  the 
advantages  of  peace  and  the  disadvantages  of  war 


248  THE  AZTECS. 

so  well,  that  a  reconciliation  was  effected.  The 
ambassadors  frequently  carried  an  idol  of  Huit- 
zilipochtli  with  them,  and  demanded  that  it 
should  be  admitted  bv  the  rebels  amons;  the  num- 
ber  of  their  gods.  If  the  malcontents  believed 
themselves  capable  of  resisting,  they  refused  this 
demand  and  sent  back  the  stranQ-e  idol.  But  if 
they  considered  themselves  too  weak  they  placed 
the  idol  among  those  of  strange  gods,  made  pres- 
ents of  feathers,  gold,  and  jewels  to  the  ambas- 
sadors, and  submitted. 

War  having  been  decided  upon,  it  was  imme- 
diately made  known  to  the  enemy,  that  they  might 
prepare  themselves;  for  the  Aztecs  believed  it  cow- 
ardly and  unworthy  of  valiant  men  to  surprise  an 
enemy.  Nevertheless,  they  sent  spies  among 
them,  in  order  that  they  might  give  an  account  of 
the  number,  the  efficiency,  and  the  movements  of 
their  troops.  When  these  spies  furnished  useful 
information  they  were  generously  rewarded. 

Finally,  after  having  offered  many  sacrifices  to 
the  god  of  war,  and  to  the  divinities  of  the  State 
or  of  the  city  to  be  attacked,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  their  good-will,  the  army  placed  itself 
on  the  march  in  companies.  If  it  was  large,  it 
was  divided  into  corps  of  eight  thousand  men, 
commanded  by  a  general. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  things  in  the 
world,  to  see  them  set  out  for  war,"  said  the  anony- 
mous Conqueror,  in  speaking  of  the  Aztecs.  "  They 
march    admirably,   their   bearing    is    magnificent, 


THE   CAMPAIGN.  249 

and  they  present  the  finest  appearance  imaginable. 
They  have  soldiers  of  an  extraordinary  bravery, 
who  die  with  the  greatest  intrepidity.  While 
fighting,  they  sing,  dance,  hiss,  and  utter  cries 
that  inspire  terror." 

The  place  where  the  first  battle  was  fought  was 
a  field  reserved  in  each  province  for  that  purpose. 
The  fight,  as  we  have  just  seen,  began  with  the 
noise  of  instruments,  with  cries  and  hisses.  In 
the  army  of  Tezcoco,  the  king  or  the  general 
gave  the  signal  for  the  fight  by  beating  on  a 
little  drum  suspended  from  his  shoulder.  The 
first  shock  was  furious,  but  the  entire  army  did 
not  take  part  in  it;  certain  of  the  corps  were 
held  in  reserve  for  use  in  cases  of  urgency. 
Sometimes  the  battle  began  with  a  shower  of 
arrows,  darts,  and  stones  ;  then,  these  arms  having 
been  spent,  the  tomahawks,  pikes,  and  swords 
were  called  into  service.  The  chiefs  occupied 
themselves  in  keeping  their  troops  in  order,  in 
defending  the  standard,  and  in  having  the  dead 
and  wounded  carried  away,  in  order  to  hide  them 
from  the  sight  of  the  enemy.  There  were  sol- 
diers set  apart  for  this  duty. 

Sometimes  the  Aztecs  made  use  of  stratagem 
and  had  resort  to  ambush.  They  concealed  them- 
selves in  trenches  hastily  dug,  as  the  Spaniards 
had  occasion  to  learn  to  their  cost.  They  also 
often  pretended  to  beat  a  retreat  to  draw  the 
enemy  towards  a  dangerous  place,  and  attacked 
his  rear  guard  with  fresh  troops.     In  battle  they 


250 


THE   AZTECS. 


were  more  anxious  to  capture  prisoners  than  to 
kill;  hence  the  valor  of  soldiers  was  not  meas- 
ured by  the  number  of  enemies  they  killed  on 
the  field  of  battle,  but  by  the  number  of  pris- 
oners they  took.  This  custom  was  of  much 
help  to  the  Spaniards  during  the  celebrated  and 
terrible  night  in  which  they  were  obliged  to 
abandon  Mexico.  When  their  general  was  killed, 
or  their  standard  taken,  the  Mexicans,  seized  by 
a  superstitious  panic,  fled,  and  no  human  power 
could  control   them. 

The  battle  ended,  the  victors  celebrated  their 
triumph  by  cries  of  joy,  and  the  general  re- 
warded the  officers  and  the  soldiers  who  presented 
prisoners  to  him.  When  the  king  himself  cap- 
tured one  of  the  enemy,  all  the  provinces  sent 
him  presents.  The  unhappy  being  on  whom 
this  misfortune  fell  was  richly  dressed;  he  was 
carried  on  a  litter  as  far  as  Mexico,  where  the 
inhabitants,  with  music  at  their  head,  came  to 
meet  him.  The  day  for  his  death  having  arrived, 
the  royal  prisoner,  clothed  in  the  insignia  of  the 
sun,  was  led  to  the  foot  of  the  sacrificial  altar, 
where  he  died  by  the  hand  of  the  high-priest. 
The  victim  dead,  the  high-priest  sprinkled  the 
four  cardinal  points  with  blood ;  then  he  pre- 
sented a  vase  of  it  to  the  king,  who  poured  it 
on  the  idols  of  the  temple,  in  thankfulness  for 
the  victory  gained  over  the  enemy.  The  head 
of  the  corpse  was  fixed  to  the  extremity  of  a 
pole,    the    skin    was    dried,    to    be    filled    with 


FORTIFICATIONS. 


251 


cotton,  and  this  frightful  trophy  was  hung  up  in 
one  of  the  halls  of  the  palace  as  an  adulatory 
souvenir  of  the  glorious  act  of  the  sovereign. 

When  a  city  was  on  the  point  of  being  be- 
sieged, the  women,  the  children,  and  the  sick 
were  immediately  sent  into  another  city,  or  into 
the  woods,  in  order  to  place  them  out  of  reach 
of  the  enemy,  and  also  to  prevent  a  useless  con- 
sumption of  food. 

Many  systems  of  fortifications  were  in  use  for 
the  defence  of  cities,  —  such  as  walls,  ramparts, 
parapets,  stockades,  ditches,  and  trenches.  The 
city  of  Cuauhquichollan  was  surrounded  by  a 
wall  of  stone  and  mortar,  twenty  feet  high  and 
twelve  feet  broad. 

The  conquering  Spaniards,  who  have  described 
the  fortifications  of  this  city,  mention  many  other 
works  of  the  same  nature,  among  which  the  most 
remarkable  was  that  built  by  the  Tlaxcaltecs,  to 
protect  themselves  against  the  invasions  of  the 
Mexicans.  This  work  consisted  of  a  wall  con- 
structed in  such  a  manner  that  it  connected  two 
mountains  ;  it  was  six  miles  long,  eight  feet  high, 
and  eighteen  feet  broad.  It  was  made  of  stones 
united  by  a  cement  of  excessive  hardness.  It  had 
but  one  opening,  eight  feet  wide,  which  con- 
sisted of  a  prolongation  in  the  form  of  a  semi- 
circle. Ruins  of  this  great  work  may  still  be 
seen. 

There  also  exists,  near  the  village  of  Molcaxac, 
an  old   fortress,  built  on  the  summit  of  a  moun- 


252  THE   AZTECS. 

tain,  and  defended  by  four  circles  of  walls.  In  the 
neighborhood  there  are  a  number  of  ramparts, 
and  on  a  hill  two  miles  distant,  are  the  ruins 
of  a  vast  city,  the  inhabitants  of  which  have  left 
no  traces  in  history.  At  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles  from  Cordova,  I  visited  the  antique  fortress 
of  Huatusco,  surrounded  by  walls,  and  which  can 
be  entered  only  by  climbing  over  high  ramparts. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  this  building,  overrun 
with  briers,  many  curious  statues  were  formerly 
found. 

In  attacks  on  fortified  places,  the  archers  and 
soldiers  armed  with  slings  drove  the  besieged 
from  the  walls ;  the  latter,  when  the  moment  for 
the  assault  came,  rained  stones  and  heavy  pieces 
of  wood  upon  the  enemy.  Experts  in  everything 
that  pertained  to  war,  the  Aztecs  used  mines, 
strewed  the  roads  with  obstacles,  and  barricaded 
the  defiles. 

Mexico,  already  strong,  owing  to  its  position  on 
a  lake,  quickly  became  impregnable,  thanks  to  the 
industry  of  its  inhabitants.  It  could  be  entered 
only  by  the  causeways  crossing  the  lake ;  —  roads 
bristling  with  parapets,  and  broken  by  ditches 
furnished  with  drawbridges.  A  number  of  the 
Spaniards  and  Tlaxcaltecs  perished  at  the  bottom 
of  these  trenches  during  the  nisftt  of  the  first  of 
July,  152 1.  These  defences  held  the  army  of 
Cortez  in  check  a  long  time,  and  he  would  prob- 
ably never  have  been  able  to  force  them  with- 
out  the    aid    of  the    brioantines    which    he    had 


FORTIFICATIONS.  253 

constructed.  To  defend  the  city  from  attacks  by- 
water,  thousands  of  boats  were  necessary  ;  and 
the  Mexicans  often  exercised  themselves  in  this 
sort  of  battle. 

But  the  strongest  fortifications  of  Mexico  were 
its  temples,  — especially  the  most  important,  which 
resembled  a  citadel.  Its  surrounding  walls,  its 
four  arsenals  well  provided  with  offensive  and 
defensive  arms,  its  architectural  arrangement, 
which  rendered  it  difficult  of  approach,  prove  that 
in  building  it,  its  founders  had  the  defence  of  the 
city  in  mind,  as  well  as  the  worship  of  the  gods. 
Moreover,  we  know  that  the  temples  became  for- 
tresses when  the  enemy  had  succeeded  in  enter- 
ing a  city.  From  the  top  of  them  arrows,  darts, 
and  stones  were  showered  upon  him.  As  an  ex- 
ample, we  recall  the  heroic  siege  sustained  by  five 
hundred  Mexican  nobles,  on  the  top  of  the  grand 
temple  of  Mexico,  in  which  Cortez,  at  last,  was 
obliged  to  attack  them  in  person. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Agriculture.  —  Chinampas,  or  Floating  Islands.  —  Sow- 
ing the  Seed.  —  Gardens. —  Domestic  Animals. — Co- 
chineal.- Hunting. —  Fishing.  —  Commerce.  —  Mar- 
kets. —  Roads.  —  Bridges. 

TN  spite  of  the  predilection  of  the  Aztecs  for 
'  the  profession  of  arms,  they  neglected  none 
of  the  useful  trades,  and  they  devoted  special  at- 
tention to  agriculture.  They,  like  all  the  nations 
of  Anahuac,  practised  it  at  an  early  date.  It  is 
known  that,  during  the  long  journey  which,  about 
the  year  1160,  brought  the  Aztecs  from  their 
primitive  country  as  far  as  the  shores  of  the  lake 
where  they  founded  their  capital,  they  tilled  the 
soil  wherever  they  sojourned,  and  lived  upon  the 
crops.  Conquered  by  the  Colhuas  and  the  Te- 
panecs,  and  shut  up  in  the  islands  of  their  lake, 
they  neglected  agriculture  for  many  years  for 
want  of  land.  At  last,  made  ingenious  by  neces- 
sity, they  invented  the  floating  islands. 

Their  method  of  making  these  isles  was 
very  simple.  With  the  aid  of  branches,  roots, 
aquatic  plants,  and  other  light  materials,  they 
made  a  net-work  sufficiently  solid,  then  on  this 
base  they  spread  a  bed  of  sea-weed,  which  they 
covered  with  the  wet  earth  from  the  lake.     These 


FLOATING    ISLANDS.  255 

little  islands,  which  were  of  the  form  of  a  paral- 
lelogram, were  generally  forty-eight  feet  long  and 
eighteen  broad,  and  they  were  about  a  foot  above 
the  surface  of  the  lake.  These  were  the  first 
fields  which  the  Aztecs  had  after  the  foundation 
of  their  capital, — fields  on  which  they  cultivated 
maize,  allspice,  and  the  vegetables  they  needed. 

These  movable  gardens,  called  "  chinampas," 
multiplied,  and  many  of  them  were  used  in  the 
cultivation  of  flowers  and  aromatic  plants.  This 
usage  has  been  perpetuated,  and  to-day,  as  in  the 
time  of  Moteuczoma,  every  morning  a  number  of 
boats  laden  with  vegetables  and  fruits  gathered  on 
these  floating  islands,  the  earth  of  which  has  no 
need  of  rain,  arrive  in  Mexico  by  the  canal  which 
runs  parallel  with  the  promenade  de  la  Viga.  A 
hut  is  often  built  on  these  islands,  which  are  orna- 
mented with  shrubbery.  Formerly,  when  the  pro- 
prietor desired  a  change  of  location,  to  escape  a 
disagreeable  neighbor,  or  to  be  near  his  relatives, 
he  got  into  his  canoe,  and  towed  his  field  wher- 
ever he  wished.  In  our  day,  the  falling  of  the 
waters  of  the  lake  fixes  the  chinampas  to  the 
muddy  bottom ;  they  have  become  stationary. 

As  soon  as  the  Mexicans  had  shaken  off  the 
yoke  of  the  Tepanecs,  their  conquests  furnished 
them  lands  so  that  they  could  apply  themselves 
to  agriculture.  Having  no  knowledge  of  the 
plow,  and  possessing  no  domestic  animal  strong 
enough  to  help  them  in  their  work,  they  supplied 
this  want  by  incessant  labor,  with  the  aid  of  a  very 


256  THE   AZTECS. 

primitive  instrument.  For  digging  the  soil  they 
used  a  sort  of  copper  mattock  furnished  with  a 
handle,  and  to  cut  down  trees,  they  employed  a 
hatchet  likewise  made  of  copper,  somewhat  like 
our  own.  Historians  have  neglected  to  describe 
the  other  implements  which  were  used. 

To  irrigate  their  fields  they  used  the  water  of 
streams  which  descended  from  the  mountains. 
They  knew  how  to  build  dikes,  and  to  divide  the 
precious  liquid  by  small  canals,  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  the  best  possible  use  of  it.  They  allowed 
their  lands  to  rest  and  become  covered  with 
weeds,  which  they  burned  during  the  dry  months, 
to  replace  the  salts  carried  away  by  the  rains.  They 
surrounded  their  fields  with  stone  walls,  or  agave 
hedges,  —  impenetrable  barriers  still  in  use. 

Their  manner  of  sowing  maize  is  still  in  vogue 
among  their  descendants.  Provided  with  a  sharp 
stick,  the  point  of  which  has  been  hardened  in 
the  fire,  the  sower  makes  a  hole  in  the  ground, 
deposits  in  it  one  or  two  grains  of  maize,  which 
he  takes  from  a  pouch  made  of  rushes,  suspended 
from  his  shoulder,  and  covers  them  with  earth 
with  his  foot.  He  advances  with  a  longer  or 
shorter  step,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  walking  in  a  straight  line  as  far  as  the 
end  of  the  field,  to  return  again  to  the  other  end. 
The  parallel  lines  which  he  traces  are  so  straight 
that  it  seems  as  if  they  were  made  with  a  string. 
This  way  of  sowing,  although  slow,  is  very  pro- 
ductive, for  it  measures  the  seed  in  accordance 


GRANARIES. 


257 


with  the  quality  of  the  soil,  and  allows  none  of  it 
to  be  lost.  When  the  plant  reaches  a  certain 
height  its  foot  is  covered  with  earth,  in  order  to 
fortify  it  and  enable  it  to  resist  the  wind.  The  ear 
having  reached  maturity,  the  stalk  which  supports 
it  is  broken,  and  it  is  allowed  to  dry  in  the  sun. 

Women,  among  the  ancient  Mexicans  as  well 
as  among  the  modern,  helped  their  husbands  in 
agricultural  labors.  The  man  dug,  sowed,  and 
harvested ;  the  woman  shelled  the  maize  and 
cleaned  the  grain. 

The  Mexicans  had  threshing  floors  for  this  last 
operation,  and  granaries  for  the  storage  of  the  har- 
vests. They  constructed  these  granaries  with  the 
trunks  of  "oyamel"  (a  sort  of  pine  with  a  smooth 
bark),  which  they  placed  one  above  the  other, 
enclosing  a  square  space.  When  this  building 
reached  the  proper  height,  they  covered  it  with 
new  trunks,  and  sheltered  it  from  the  rain  with  a 
roof.  These  granaries  had  but  two  openings :  a 
narrow  one  in  the  lower  part ;  the  other,  larger,  at 
their  upper  part.  Some  of  them  were  large 
enough  to  contain  as  many  as  six  thousand  sacks 
of  maize.  These  granaries  are  still  used  at  many 
places  in  the  Mexican  republic,  and  some  are  so 
old  that  they  appear  to  have  been  constructed 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  In  showing 
me  these  ancient  storehouses,  the  Mexican  far- 
mers have  often  told  me  that  grain  is  preserved 
in  them  better  than  in  those  copied  from  Euro- 
pean models. 

17 


258  THE    AZTECS. 

Near  sowed  fields,  they  built  small  towers  of 
wood,  in  which  a  man,  protected  from  the  sun 
and  rain,  watched  the  birds  and  drove  them  away 
with  a  sling.  This  task  is  now  confided  to  chil- 
dren ;  for  the  Mexican  farmer,  at  the  present  time 
as  in  the  past,  is  obliged  to  ceaselessly  defend  his 
crops  against  clouds  of  pillaging  birds.  Parrots 
attack  maize,  toucans  fruits,  grosbeaks  the  sweet 
pods  of  cotton-plants,  and  sparrows  wheat. 

The  Aztecs  were  fond  of  gardens ;  they  filled 
them  with  fruit-trees  carefully  planted  in  rows, 
with  medicinal  plants,  and  above  all,  with  flowers. 
The  last  they  cultivated,  not  only  from  taste,  but 
in  consequence  of  their  custom  of  frequently 
offering  bouquets  to  the  king,  the  lords,  and  the 
ambassadors,  and  also  of  ornamenting  their  tem- 
ples and  private  oratories  with  them.  Among 
these  gardens,  those  of  the  crown  in  Mexico  and 
Tezcoco  were  celebrated.  After  the  taking  of 
Mexico,  the  Spaniards  greatly  admired  that  of 
a  lord  of  Iztalapan,  as  much  on  account  of  its 
arrangement,  as  on  account  of  the  dimensions  of 
the  trees  that  ornamented  it.  This  orchard  was 
divided  into  squares,  and  it  contained  plants 
which  delighted  the  senses.  Between  these 
squares  were  paths  formed  by  fruit-trees  and 
flowering-bushes.  The  ground  was  furrowed  by 
small  canals  filled  with  water  from  the  lake,  and 
one  of  them  was  large  enough  to  float  a  boat. 
In  the  middle  of  this  park,  there  was  a  square 
pond,    1600  feet    in  circumference,  inhabited  by 


GARDENS.  259 

innumerable  aquatic  birds.  This  property,  which 
is  mentioned  by  Cortez  and  Bernal  Diaz,  had 
been  established  by  Cuitlahuatzin,  brother  and 
successor  of  Moteuczoma  II.,  who,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hernandez,  had  enriched  it 
with  exotic  trees. 

But  the  conquerors  say  the  most  magnificent 
of  these  gardens  was  that  of  Huaxtepec.  It  was 
six  miles  in  circumference,  and  was  crossed  by  a 
river.  The  Spaniards  preserved  it  for  a  long 
time,  and  in  it  they  cultivated  the  medicinal  plants 
necessary  for  the  hospital  they  had  founded. 

The  Aztecs  carefully  watched  over  the  econ- 
omy of  the  forests,  from  which  they  obtained 
their  wood  for  burning  and  building.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  have  often  heard  the  heedlessness 
of  the  Spaniards  deplored,  in  allowing  the  forests 
to  be  cut  from  a  part  of  the  valley  of  Anahuac, 
and  thus  sacrificing  the  public  good  to  that  of  a 
few  individuals.  Nevertheless,  no  measures  have 
been  taken  to  repair  the  injury  or  to  put  a  stop 
to  it.  Around  all  the  cities  I  visited  during  a 
stay  of  twenty  years  in  Mexico,  I  saw  the  plains 
extend  and  the  trees  disappear.  In  the  valleys  of 
the  Cordilleras,  as  well  as  in  the  Warm  Lands, 
the  modern  Aztec  often  sets  fire  to  the  forests 
that  surround  the  desert,  to  enlarge  his  farms. 
Thousands  of  acres  of  valuable  wood  are  thus 
destroyed,  and  the  ground  which  they  covered  is 
suddenly  transformed  into  a  savanna,  without  use, 
without  regard  for  the  future,  and  without  profit. 


260  THE   AZTECS. 

The  plants  cultivated  by  the  ancient  Mexicans 
were  maize,  cotton,  cocoa,  agave,  sage,  and  allspice. 
The  agave,  or  "  metl,"  supplied,  in  a  manner,  all  the 
needs  of  the  poor.  It  formed  impenetrable  bar- 
riers around  their  dwellings,  its  trunk  served  for 
timber  in  the  construction  of  roofs  of  cabins,  and 
its  leaves  took  the  place  of  tiles.  With  these 
same  leaves,  which  ended  in  a  sharp  thorn,  they 
made  paper,  thread,  needles,  clothes,  and  shoes ; 
the  juice  of  the  plant,  besides  the  alcoholic  bever- 
ages celebrated  under  the  names  of  "  pulque  "  and 
"  mescal,"  furnished  honey,  sugar,  and  vinegar. 
Lastly,  the  trunk  and  the  lower  part  of  the  agave, 
cooked  in  a  closed  vessel,  made  a  delicate  dish. 
This  plant,  endowed  with  diuretic  properties, 
served  as  a  remedy  against  many  diseases. 

Apropos  of  this  plant,  which  was  extremely  im- 
portant to  the  Aztecs,  let  us  hear  what  Motolinia 
("  the  poor  "),  who  arrived  in  Mexico  three  years 
after  the  taking  of  the  capital  by  Hernando  Cortez, 
has  to  say  :  — 

"  The  metl  is  a  shrub  or  thistle  which,  in  the 
language  of  the  islands,  bears  the  name  of 
"  maguey."  So  many  things  are  made  from  it 
and  obtained  from  it  that  it  may  be  affirmed  that 
iron  itself  is  not  more  useful.  It  is  a  plant  which 
has  the  appearance  of  the  aloe,  but  is  much  larger. 
Its  leaves  are  green,  and  they  measure  four  and  a 
half  feet  in  length.  They  have  the  shape  of  a 
brick,  are  thick  in  the  middle  and  thinner  towards 
the  ends.     They  are  about  a  span  in  circumfer- 


THE   AGAVE.  26 1 

ence,  are  grooved,  and  taper  towards  the  extremi- 
ties so  that  they  terminate  in  a  sharp  point  like  a 
bodkin.  Each  foot  of  the  plant  has  thirty  or 
forty  of  these  leaves.  When  the  metl  is  fully  de- 
veloped, five  or  six  central  leaves  are  cut  off,  so 
as  to  form  a  cavity,  and  during  three  months 
the  liquid  which  flows  from  it  is  collected,  —  a 
liquid  much  like  water  mixed  with  honey.  When 
boiled,  this  juice  is  transformed  into  a  sweetish, 
transparent  wine. 

"  This  wine,  concentrated,  gives  a  very  agree- 
able honey,  and  a  sugar  inferior  to  that  of  the 
sugar-cane.  Vinegar  is  also  made  from  it.  Sew- 
inn-thread  is  obtained  from  the  leaves  of  the 
maguey,  and  twine,  cord,  straps,  halters,  and  all 
the  things  which  we  obtain  from  hemp  is  made 
from  them.  The  Indians  also  make  clothes  and 
shoes  from  it.  The  thorns  of  the  leaves  took  the 
place  of  nails,  and  the  same  leaves  were  used  by 
the  women  to  mould  dough  of  maize.  The 
workers  in  feathers  also  used  these  leaves  to 
spread  over  cotton  which  they  transformed  into 
paper,  on  which  they  sketched  their  designs. 
Painters  had  recourse  to  this  leaf  for  many  pur- 
poses, and  masons  used  them  for  trowels,  tiles, 
and  water-conduits." 

Although,  for  want  of  horned  cattle,  the  Aztecs 
were  not  herdsmen,  they  had  domesticated  a  large 
number  of  beasts.  At  first,  the  techichi  took  the 
place  of  the  dog,  and  its  flesh  was  a  favorite  article 
of  food  for  the  Spaniards.      P>esides,  the  Indians 


262  THE   AZTECS. 

raised  turkeys,  quails,  and  ducks,  and  the  nobles 
owned  parks  for  deer,  warrens  for  rabbits,  and 
ponds  for  fishes  and  axolotls. 

A  small  animal,  worthy  of  special  mention 
among  those  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
Mexicans,  is  the  "  nochiztli "  or  cochineal.  This  in- 
sect, so  much  sought  for  in  Europe  on  account  of 
the  beautiful  red  color  which  it  furnishes,  is  so 
delicate,  and  has  to  defend  itself  against  so  many 
enemies,  that  it  requires  even  more  care  than  the 
silkworm.  It  fears  the  cold,  the  wind,  the  rain, 
birds,  mice,  and  worms,  so  that  it  is  necessary  to 
constantly  watch  the  cactus  coccinilifer,  on  which 
it  is  raised,  and  to  shelter  the  leaves  in  cabins  on 
the  approach  of  the  bad  season.  The  females, 
a  little  before  laying,  change  their  skin,  and  the 
Indians  help  them  to  do  this  by  brushing  them 
very  lightly  with  a  rabbit's  tail.  On  each  leaf 
of  the  cactus  they  generally  place  three  nests  of 
fifteen  cochineal  insects,  which  give  three  crops  a 
year.  The  last  of  these  crops  is  the  least  esteemed, 
for  the  insects  are  small  and  are  soiled  with  the 
debris  of  the  plant  which  fed  them.  The  coch- 
ineal bugs  are  generally  killed  by  plunging  them 
into  boiling  water,  but  their  quality  especially 
depends  on  the  care  with  which  they  are  dried. 
The  best  method  of  desiccation  is  that  of  expos- 
ure to  the  sun  ;  nevertheless,  some  growers  use 
fire,  spreading  the  insects  on  plates  of  terra-cotta 
called  "  comalli,"  and  which  arc  used  in  cook- 
ing  corn-cakes.     The   insects  are   also   dried   in 


HUNTING.  263 

"  temascallis,"  a  sort  of   oven  to  which  we  shall 
again  refer. 

If  the  Aztecs  had  not  been  very  skilful  in 
hunting,  they  would  not  have  been  able  to  collect 
the  numerous  animals  which  filled  the  royal  gar- 
dens, and  also  their  dwellings.  In  the  chase  they 
used  bows,  darts,  nets,  traps,  and  blow-guns.  The 
blow-guns  which  the  kings  and  nobles  used  were 
curiously  wrought  and  painted,  or  ornamented 
with  gold  or  silver. 

Besides  the  hunts  undertaken  by  individuals, 
either  for  amusement  or  to  procure  food,  great 
battues  were  made,  ordered  by  the  king  or 
established  by  custom,  to  supply  the  temples 
with  victims.  For  these  battues  they  chose  a 
large  wood,  generally  that  of  Zacatepec,  a  little 
distance  from  the  capital,  and  placed  traps  and 
nets  in  the  middle  of  it.  Thousands  of  hunters 
then  formed  a  circle,  of  a  circumference  calcu- 
lated upon  the  approximate  number  of  pieces  of 
game  they  desired  to  take.  Fires  were  lighted 
from  place  to  place,  and  the  trappers  advanced 
beating  drums,  blowing  conch-shells,  hissing,  and 
uttering  cries.  The  terrified  animals  fled  towards 
the  centre  of  the  wood,  where  the  hunters,  con- 
tracting their  circle  and  continuing  their  cries, 
killed  them  with  arrows.  The  numbers  of  ani- 
mals captured  in  these  battues  was  so  large  that 
the  first  viceroy  of  Mexico,  having  heard  of  it, 
and  not  being  able  to  believe  it,  wished  to  take 
part    in    one.       The    large    plain     between     the 


264  THE   AZTECS. 

villages  of  Xilotepec  and  Saint-Juan  del  Rio  was 
chosen  for  a  hunting-ground,  and  the  Indians 
were  told  to  follow  their  usual  methods.  Eleven 
thousand  Otomites  formed  a  circle  more  than 
twelve  miles  in  circumference,  and  after  having 
executed  the  manoeuvre  we  have  just  explained, 
captured  six  hundred  deer  and  wild  goats,  a  hun- 
dred foxes,  and  an  incalculable  number  of  hares 
and  rabbits.  This  place  at  the  present  time  still 
bears  the  name  of  "  Cazadero." 

The  method  of  the  Aztecs  to  catch  ducks  was 
rather  curious,  and  it  has  not  been  abandoned. 
These  web-footed  and  other  aquatic  birds  abound 
on  all  the  lakes  of  Mexico,  and  the  people  who 
live  on  the  shores  float  large  gourds  on  the 
waters,  which  the  birds  grow  accustomed  to  see- 
ing, and  which  they  even  carry  off.  When  the 
time  for  hunting  comes  an  Indian  goes  into  the 
water,  his  head  covered  with  one  of  the  gourds ; 
instead  of  fleeing  the  ducks  approach,  and  the 
hunter  has  no  difficulty  in  seizing  them  by  the 
feet  and  drowning  them. 

The  Aztecs  boldly  captured  snakes  and  ser- 
pents; they  seized  them  by  the  neck  or  squeezed 
their  jaws  between  two  fingers.  But  their  most 
marvellous  ability  consisted  in  the  sureness  with 
which  they  followed  the  trail  of  a  wild  beast,  sim- 
ply by  an  examination  of  the  plants  upon  which 
it  had  trampled. 

In  consequence  of  the  situation  of  their  capital 
in  the  middle  of  the  waters  and  the  proximity  of 


FISHING.  265 

Lake  Chalco,  in  which  fish  abounded,  the  Aztecs 
were,  perhaps,  still  more  given  to  fishing  than 
to  hunting.  They  engaged  in  it  from  the  mo- 
ment of  their  arrival  in  the  valley,  for  it  furnished 
them  with  the  food  they  needed.  The  imple- 
ments they  used  were  lines,  hooks,  and  weirs. 
Their  canoes,  formed  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  hol- 
lowed out,  which  could  contain  as  many  as  five 
persons,  numbered  thousands.  In  their  military 
expeditions  they  used  boats,  into  which  as  many 
as  sixty  soldiers  could  be  crowded,  and  which 
were  propelled  by  means  of  oars. 

They  took  alligators  by  surrounding  the  neck 
with  a  cord,  or  in  a  way  which,  it  is  said,  the 
Egyptians  practise  to  capture  crocodiles  on  the 
Nile.  The  hunter  walked  boldly  up  to  the  rep- 
tile, carrying  in  his  hand  a  short  stick,  the  ends 
of  which  were  sharpened  into  a  point.  When 
the  animal  opened  his  mouth,  the  stick  was  placed 
between  his  jaws,  and  in  closing  on  it  he  pierced 
them  through  and  through.  They  then  allowed 
the  reptile  to  become  exhausted  by  loss  of  blood, 
whereupon  he  was  despatched.  The  pearl-divers 
on  the  coast  of  California  employed,  it  appears, 
the  same  stratagem  to  overcome  sharks. 

Fishing,  hunting,  and  the  arts  which  they  cul- 
tivated caused  many  branches  of  commerce  to 
spring  up  among  the  Aztecs.  From  the  date  oi 
their  settlement  on  Lake  Tezcoco,  the)'  engaged 
in  traffic,  selling  the  fish  they  caught  and  the 
rush-mats  which  they  wove  to  their  neighbors.    In 


266  THE    AZTECS. 

exchange,  they  obtained  maize,  cotton,  stone,  lime, 
and  wood,  which  they  lacked.     In  proportion  as 
they  increased  their  territory  by  force  of  arms,  they 
enlarged  their  commerce,  which  soon  extended  as 
far  as  the  most  distant  provinces  of  their  empire. 
Very    enterprising    and    very   bold,  the   Aztec 
merchants    played    an    important    part    in     their 
country,  and  their  powerful  corporations  paved  the 
way  for  almost  all  their  conquests.     In  their  for- 
eign enterprises  they  were  morally  and  materially 
sustained   by  their  sovereigns,  who  spared  them 
neither  privileges  nor  pecuniary  rewards,  neither 
honors,  nor,  at  time  of  need,  their  substantial  aid. 
These  traffickers,  real  colonizers,  always  travelled 
in  large   numbers.     They  established  themselves 
in  distant  countries,  and  there,  by  reason  of  their 
wealth,  their  shrewdness,  and  their  cunning,  they 
gradually    became    masters   of  all  business.      At 
last,  under  pretexts  which  they  excelled  in  creat- 
ing, these  emigrants  declared  that  their  interests 
had  been  wronged,  or  that  they  were  in  danger, 
and  an  army  of  their  fellow-countrymen  hastened 
to   protect   them.     These    emigrants   became  its 
scouts,  guided,  directed,  and  informed  it  in  regard 
to   the  forces  of  the  enemy,  and  a  new  province 
was  soon  added  to  those  of  the  empire.     This  in- 
genious method  of  conquest  was  that  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, and  that  which  gave  the  English  the 
tutelage  of  half  the  world,  and  has  it  not  in  our 
days  —  there    is    nothing    new   under  the   sun  — 
built  up  the  modern  German  empire  ? 


MARKETS.  267 

In  all  the  centres  of  Aztec  population  there 
were  permanent  markets,  and  every  five  days  a 
general  market  was  held.  An  agreement  was 
established  between  the  cities  to  choose  different 
dates,  in  order  to  cause  no  dissatisfaction.  The 
great  markets  of  Mexico  were  celebrated  ;  they 
were  held  once  a  week. 

Up  to  the  reign  of  Axayacatl,  sixth  king  of 
Mexico,  the  market  was  held  in  the  square  before 
the  palace  of  the  king.  But  after  the  conquest 
of  Tlatelolco,  it  was  transported  to  that  suburb, 
to  a  square  which,  according  to  Cortez,  was  twice 
as  lame  as  that  of  Salamanca.  Rectangular  in 
form,  this  plaza  was  surrounded  with  porticos, 
which  protected  the  market  people.  There  all 
kinds  of  merchandise  were  exposed  for  sale,  at  a 
point  designated  by  the  "judges  of  commerce." 
Jewelry,  cotton  cloths,  feather  mosaics,  etc.,  could 
be  sold  only  at  the  place  set  aside  for  them. 
Since,  in  spite  of  its  dimensions,  the  place  could 
not  contain  all  merchandise  brought  there,  and 
which  would  have  impeded  circulation,  stone, 
timbers,  lime,  in  a  word,  all  cumbrous  materials 
were  left  on  the  canal  or  in  the  neighboring 
streets. 

The  number  of  venders  who  daily  thronged  the 
market  was,  according  to  Cortez,  more  than  fifty 
thousand ;  however,  according  to  the  anonymous 
Conqueror,  it  was  only  on  every  fifth  day  of  the 
week  that  there  was  such  a  concourse,  and  twenty 
or  twenty-five  thousand   merchants  supplied    the 


268  THE    AZTECS. 

ordinary  markets.  The  quantity  and  the  variety 
of  the  eoods  sold  or  bartered  in  Mexico  was  so 
considerable  that  historians,  after  endless  enu- 
merations, declare  their  inability  to  name  them 
all.  Not  only  the  productions  of  the  empire,  but 
also  those  of  the  neighboring  States,  were  for 
sale  in  these  markets,  —  objects  to  supply  the 
necessities  of  life,  or  intended  to  please  the  taste, 
the  curiosity,  or  the  vanity  of  the  buyers.  These 
markets  had  numbers  of  animals,  living  and  dead, 
all  the  articles  of  food  in  use,  all  metals  worked, 
every  species  of  precious  stone.  Plants,  gums, 
resins,  mineral  earths,  ointments,  oils,  and  plasters 
used  by  Aztec  physicians,  had  their  place,  as  well 
as  fabrics  of  agave,  of  cotton,  of  palms,  of  feath- 
ers, and  skins  of  animals.  Slaves  were  sold 
there,  as  well  as  boats  full  of  human  excrement, 
used  in  dressing  the  skins  of  animals  ;  in  a  word, 
everything  which  could  be  exchanged  or  bought 
found  its  place  here,  for  in  the  interior  of  the  city 
there  existed  no  other  shops  except  those  in 
which  provisions  could  be  purchased.  It  was  to 
the  great  market  of  Mexico  that  the  jewellers  of 
Cholula,  the  silversmiths  of  Azcapotzalco,  the 
painters  of  Tezcoco,  the  shoemakers  of  Tenayu- 
can,  the  hunters  of  Xilotepec,  the  fishers  of  Cuit- 
lahuac,  the  gardeners  of  the  Warm  Lands,  and 
the  horticulturists  of  Xochimilco  brought  their 
celebrated  products. 

The  transactions  were  not  simple  barters  such 
as   the    Indians  frequently  make  at   the  present 


MONEY.  269 

time ;  they  bought  and  sold.  Four  kinds  of 
money  were  current  in  the  empire,  but  none  of  it 
was  coined.  The  first  consisted  of  grains  of 
cacao,  —  different  from  those  used  in  the  prepar- 
ation of  chocolate,  —  which  passed  from  hand  to 
hand,  just  as  small  change  does  among  us.  This 
cacao  was  reckoned  by  measures  of  eight  thou- 
sand grains,  and  for  merchandise  of  a  high  price 
by  sacks  of  twenty-four  thousand.  Thirty-five 
years  ago  cacao  was  still  current  money  in  Mexico 
and  Tehuantepec,  and  I  have  seen  cakes  of  soap, 
eggs,  and  even  candles  fill  the  same  office  in 
several  cities  of  the  province  of  Vera  Cruz. 

The  second  species  of  money  consisted  of  small 
squares  of  cotton  cloth  ;  it  was  used  in  small 
household  purchases.  The  third  was  composed 
of  small  nuggets  of  gold  enclosed  in  duck-quills, 
the  transparency  of  which  allowed  the  precious 
metal  to  be  seen  and  its  value  to  be  estimated. 
The  fourth,  mentioned  by  Cortez,  who  has  neg- 
lected to  describe  it,  was  made  of  tin,  and  was 
much  like  our  pieces  of  money.  The  pieces  of 
copper  having  the  form  of  the  letter  T,  of  which 
many  specimens  are  preserved  in  the  museum 
of  Mexico,  have  until  recently  been  considered 
Aztec  coins.  According  to  Orozco  and  M.  J. 
Sanchez,  these  pieces  of  copper  were  agricultural 
implements. 

Merchandise  was  sold  by  the  piece  or  by  meas- 
ure. Although  scales  were  known  to  many  of 
the  peoples  of  America,  the  Aztecs  did  not  make 


270  THE   AZTECS. 

use  of  them.  They  had  a  contempt  for  them,  it 
seems,  on  account  of  the  ease  with  which  the 
weights  could  be  altered. 

To  prevent  fraud  and  disorder,  commissioners 
went  about  these  markets,  noticing  everything  that 
took  place.  A  court,  consisting  of  two  judges, 
constantly  sat  in  a  neighboring  house,  settled 
differences  and  punished  crimes  on  the  instant. 

Each  commodity  paid  a  tax  to  the  king,  who, 
in  exchange,  guaranteed  to  the  merchants  impar- 
tial justice  and  safety  to  their  possessions  and 
persons.  Thefts  in  the  markets  were  rare,  as 
much  on  account  of  the  vigilance  of  the  commis- 
sioners as  on  account  of  the  fear  inspired  by  the 
prompt  and  terrible  punishment  that  followed  the 
least  offence.  Motolinia  relates  as  an  eye-witness 
that  two  women  having  engaged  in  a  quarrel  in 
the  market  of  Tezcoco,  one  of  them  struck  the 
other  until  blood  flowed.  The  guilty  one,  amid 
the  plaudits  of  the  crowd,  not  accustomed  to  these 
acts  of  violence,  was  condemned  to  death.  All 
the  Spaniards  who  have  spoken  of  the  Aztec 
markets  are  boundless  in  praise  of  their  good 
arrangement  and  the  order  that  reigned  among 
the  traffickers,  as  well  as  in  the  disposition  of  their 
wares.  Let  us  add  that  this  good  order  continues 
to  a  certain  extent  to  the  present  day.  The  mod- 
ern Mexican  markets  are  still  supplied  with  pro- 
visions of  every  sort,  —  with  the  products  of 
manufactures  as  well  as  those  of  nature.  They 
are  fairs  where  objects  of  the  greatest  disparity 


MERCHANTS. 


271 


are  sold,  —  flowers,  fruits,  vegetables,  game,  lime, 
wood,  vessels,  cloths,  charcoal,  jewels,  and  birds. 

When  a  merchant  was  preparing  to  undertake 
a  journey  he  invited  to  dinner  the  most  prominent 
men  of  his  trade,  those  rendered  inactive  by  age, 
and  explained  to  them  the  reasons  that  impelled 
him  to  visit  other  countries.  The  guests  praised 
his  resolution,  urged  him  to  follow  the  steps  of 
his  ancestors,  and,  especially  if  it  was  his  first 
journey,  gave  him  advice  drawn  from  their  own 
experience. 

Merchants  almost  always  journeyed  in  caravans 
in  order  to  have  Greater  security.  In  their  hand 
they  generally  carried  a  smooth  black  stick,  which 
represented  their  protecting  god,  Xacateuctli. 
Thus  armed,  they  believed  themselves  safe  from 
all  danger,  and  when  they  arrived  at  a  hostelry 
they  put  all  their  sticks  together  and  worshipped 
them  ;  often  in  the  night  they  bled  themselves 
in  honor  of  their  god. 

During  the  absence  of  a  merchant,  his  wife  and 
children  might  bathe,  but  they  were  allowed  to  wash 
the  head  only  every  eightieth  day,  —  as  much  as 
a  sign  of  sorrow  as  to  merit  by  this  penance  the 
protection  of  the  gods.  If  the  merchant  died 
during  his  journey,  the  news  was  transmitted  to 
the  oldest  merchants  of  his  city,  who  communi- 
cated it  to  the  kinsmen  of  the  deceased.  These 
immediately  made  a  pine  statue  representing  the 
dead  man,  and  at  the  hour  of  the  obsequies  they 
treated  the  manikin  as  if  it  was  really  his  body. 


272  THE    AZTECS. 

For  the  convenience  of  travellers  there  were 
roads  all  over  the  empire,  which  were  repaired 
every  year  after  the  rainy  season.  In  forests  and 
desert  places  public  shelters  were  built,  and  the 
rivers  were  provided  with  bridges  or  boats  to 
enable  people  to  cross.  The  boats  were  square, 
of  various  dimensions,  and  were  moved  with  oars. 
The  smallest,  hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree, 
held  two  persons  ;  the  largest  carried  as  many  as 
twenty. 

In  addition  to  the  boats,  the  Aztecs  used  special 
rafts,  called  "  balsas  "  by  the  Spaniards,  to  cross  riv- 
ers. These  rafts,  five  feet  long,  the  use  of  which 
the  modern  Indians  have  not  lost,  are  composed 
of  platforms  of  bamboo  placed  upon  large  empty 
gourds.  Five  or  six  people  take  their  places  on 
these  craft,  which  swimmers  draw  to  the  desired 
shore. 

Bridges  were  generally  made  of  wood,  rarely 
of  stone.  The  commonest  were  those  perilous 
and  picturesque  bridges  of  clinging  vines,  which 
even  to-day  serve  to  cross  the  torrents  or  ravines 
of  the  Cordilleras,  and  for  which  Nature  fur- 
nishes the  materials.  Europeans  at  times  hesi- 
tate to  venture  upon  these  green  foot-bridges 
thrown  over  profound  abysses,  and  which  are 
rocked  by  the  breeze  like  hammocks ;  but  the 
Indian,  even  laden  with  a  burden,  steps  upon 
these  flowered  stems,  thinking  little  more  of  the 
clanger  than  do  the  live  calandras,  who  are  not 
afraid  to  suspend  their  nests  to  them. 


COMMERCE.  273 

We  know  nothing  concerning  the  maritime 
commerce  of  the  ancient  Aztec  empire,  which, 
however,  must  have  been  very  limited.  The 
boats,  in  fact,  ventured  but  a  short  distance  from 
the  shores  which  border  the  two  oceans,  and 
served  only  for  fishing.  The  only  traffic  by  water 
took  place  on  Lake  Tezcoco,  which  swarmed  with 
canoes.  Maize,  timbers,  stones,  vegetables,  flowers, 
and  even  the  drinking-water  which  the  popula- 
tion needed,  was  brought  to  Mexico  by  boats. 

Merchandise  which  was  not  transported  by 
water  had  to  be  brought  on  the  backs  of  men, 
in  consequence  of  the  lack  of  beasts  of  burden ; 
hence  porters,  called  "  tlamenes  "  were  numerous  in 
Mexico.  Their  ordinary  load  was  sixty  pounds, 
and  they  traversed  about  twelve  miles  a  day. 
They  undertook  long  journeys  in  the  train  of 
merchants,  opened  for  themselves  passages 
through  the  forests,  climbing  abrupt  mountains, 
and  crossing   rivers   by  swimming. 

At  the  present  time,  although  horses,  asses,  and 
mules  abound  in  Mexico,  the  Indians  still  accom- 
plish long  journeys,  a  load  on  their  backs,  over 
peaks  of  the  Cordilleras  where  only  paths  exist ; 
they  even  carry,  at  need,  timid  travellers,  women, 
and  children. 

My  mind  filled  with  the  pompous  descriptions 
of  the  conquering  Spaniards,  I  chanced,  on  leav- 
ing the  shady  woods  of  Chapultepec,  to  stop  to 
contemplate  at  leisure  the  beautiful  valley,  in  the 
middle  of  which  rose  the  curious  Venice  of   the 


2  74  THE   AZTECS. 

New  World.  The  lakes  which  rendered  it  cele- 
brated are  now  half  dried  up,  saline  efflorescences 
cover  the  sterile  sand  of  their  ancient  beds,  and 
have  robbed  it  of  part  of  its  beauty.  But  the 
Cordilleras,  several  leagues  distant,  still  surround 
it  like  a  cloudy  girdle,  to  which  morning  and 
evening  the  sun  lends  an  embroidery  of  gold. 
Toward  the  east  the  three  o-reat  unchanoincr  vol- 
canoes  of  the  Temperate  Lands  raise  their  snowy 
peaks,  shining  as  if  on  fire ;  vultures,  the  old  and 
faithful  guests  of  this  privileged  region,  circle  in 
a  pale-blue  sky  incomparable  in  its  serenity. 

Turned  towards  the  west,  seeing  some  Aztecs 
moving  around  me  clothed  in  a  costume  very 
much  like  that  which  they  wore  in  the  time  of 
their  emperors,  and  still  speaking  the  imaged 
language,  so  sweet  in  the  mouths  of  the  Nahuas, 
in  imagination  I  carried  myself  back  into  the 
past,  so  near  us  but  nevertheless  so  mysterious. 
Assailed  by  my  historic  memories,  I  gradually 
ceased  to  see  the  steeples  and  domes  of  the  mod- 
ern city,  and  I  called  up  the  Mexico  of  ancient 
times,  the  Tenochtitlan  of  Moteuczoma,  with  its 
temples,  its  palaces,  its  towers,  its  terraces,  its 
canals,  its  boats,  its  floating  islands,  its  vegeta- 
tion, and  its  peculiar  people. 

The  immense  pyramid,  with  five  superposed 
steps,  which  so  strongly  excited  the  admiration  of 
the  conquerors,  then  suddenly  raised  its  abruptly 
truncated  form  on  an  azure  base  before  my  eyes. 
On  the  vast  platform,  so  often  covered  with  blood, 


TENOCHTITLAN. 


275 


the  chapels  of  Tlaloc  and  of  Huitzilipochtli  arose, 
as  formerly,  their  storied  towers  surmounted  by 
cupolas.  Toward  the  north,  the  great  causeway 
of  Lake  Chalco  seemed  an  immense  bridge. 
Lower  down,  the  enclosing  wall  of  the  temple, 
with  its  bas-reliefs  representing  enormous  inter- 
twined serpents,  reflected  in  the  clear  wave  its 
white  brilliant  line,  which  the  sun's  rays  made  as 
bright,  Cortez  says,  as  silver. 

Around  the  vast  edifice  —  the  most  important 
of  the  architectural  works  undertaken  by  the 
Aztecs,  and  at  the  foot  of  which  two  braziers 
always  burned  —  I  counted,  one  by  one,  the  forty 
lesser  temples  enumerated  by  the  historians.  To 
the  left,  the  circular  teocalli  of  Ouetzacoatl,  with 
its  fantastic  gate  representing  the  open  jaws  of  a 
serpent.  A  little  farther,  the  place  devoted  to 
religious  dances,  the  colleges  or  seminaries,  the 
sacrificial  stones ;  and  then  in  the  rear,  the  special 
temples  of  Tlaloc  and  Tezcatlipoca. 

Next  came  the  temple  of  the  planet  Venus, 
with  its  high  column  bearing  the  image  of  the 
star,  reproduced  a  hundred  times  by  its  neighbor, 
the  "house  of  mirrors."  More  distant,  the  "house 
of  shells,"  its  roof  covered  with  shells  of  mollusks, 
the  variegated  colors  of  which  shone  in  the  sun, 
shaded  the  platform  on  which  rested  the  stone 
for  the  gladiators.  The  Epcoatl,  raised  in  honor 
of  the  Tlalocs,  was  side  by  side  with  the  Macuil- 
calli,  where  spies  were  punished  with  death. 
Between    the    Teotlalpan,    raised    in    honor    of 


276  THE   AZTECS. 

Mixcohuatl,  and  the  sanctuary  of  Istacinteutl,  the 
white  god  to  whom  lepers  were  immolated,  rose 
the  Tlalxico,  dedicated  to  the  master  of  the  infer- 
nal regions,  the  sombre  Mictlanteuctli.  Lastly, 
outside  of  the  sacred  enclosure  the  two  great  ossu- 
aries, the  sight  of  which  terrified  the  Spaniards, 
showed  their  massive  oblong  forms,  and  displayed, 
the  one  its  prodigious  pile  of  human  bones,  the 
other  the  garland  of  skulls  with  which  it  was 
crowned. 

The  palace  of  the  Emperor,  with  its  pink  walls, 
its  porticos,  its  columns  of  agate  and  porphyry,  its 
twenty  doors,  its  sculptured  friezes,  its  courts,  its 
fountains  and  its  gardens , —  itself  eclipsed,  never- 
theless, by  the  cyclopean  proportions  of  the  great 
temple,  —  eclipsed,  in  turn,  by  its  dimensions,  the 
aristocratic  dwellings  by  which  it  was  surrounded, 
palaces  surmounted  by  terraces  with  embattled 
parapets.  In  the  distance,  a  thousand  temples 
or  chapels,  with  many-colored  stones,  natural  or 
painted,  like  immense  mosaics.  Three  hundred 
and  sixty  towers  rose  proudly  toward  the  heavens 
and  looked  down  upon  the  city.  Here  and  there 
sombre  masses  of  foliage  of  cedars  and  cypresses 
—  trees  always  dear  to  the  Aztecs  —  attracted  my 
eyes,  and  made  still  more  striking  the  whiteness 
of  the  sixty  thousand  houses  occupied  by  the 
people,  who  in  the  suburbs  merely  sheltered  them- 
selves under  thatched  roofs  artistically  arranged. 
In  my  imagination  I  seemed  to  hear  in  the  noise 
of  the  modern  city  the  cries  of  the  victim  whose 


TENOCHTITLAN. 


277 


heart  was  being  torn  out,  and  in  the  reddish  mist 
which  generally  floats  above  the  hill  of  Penon  I 
thought   I  saw  vapors  reeking  with  blood. 

Outside  of  the  city,  as  if  to  protect  it,  and 
simply  placed  on  the  ground,  was  a  number  of 
granite  monsters  in  fantastic  postures,  grinning 
images  of  fierce  gods.  Here  was  Tlaloc,  with  his 
projecting  teeth,  intended  to  mangle  the  breast  of 
children  ;  there  Huitzilipochtli,  with  his  standard, 
his  serpents,  his  funereal  insignia.  On  the  sides 
of  the  causeways  were  seats  consecrated  to  Tez- 
catlipoca,  altars  decked  with  garlands  of  verdure 
by  his  devotees. 

The  sumptuous  Tenochtitlan  was  built  in  the 
shade  of  Penon,  in  the  midst  of  a  flora  of  incom- 
parable richness,  on  a  soil  which,  owing  to  the 
abundance  of  the  waters  by  which  it  was  sur- 
rounded, was  then  still  more  fertile  than  it  is 
to-day.  In  this  beautiful  climate,  in  the  centre  of 
a  lake  with  calm,  blue  waters,  in  a  valley  which 
seems  a  garden  of  flowers,  which  is  cheered  by 
the  harmonious  songs  of  splendidly-plumed  birds, 
under  a  sky  which  is  troubled  only  by  storms  of 
short  duration,  why  were  there  everywhere  ter- 
rible divinities,  images  of  death,  which  it  was 
necessary  to  ceaselessly  glut  with  blood?  Was  it 
not  to  their  crentle  climate  that  the  Greeks  owed 
their  cheerful  imagination  ? 

The  shades  of  evening  invading  the  valley  ef- 
faced my  dreams  of  the  past,  very  incomplete, 
alas !      Retracing    my    steps,    and    entering    the 


278  THE    AZTECS. 

modern  city,  after  having  caught  a  glimpse  of  that 
of  other  days,  I  was  assailed  by  a  doubt.  I  asked 
myself,  as  a  celebrated  Mexican  writer,  Lucas 
Alaman,  had  done  unknown  to  me,  if  the  ancient 
city  of  Tenochtitlan  had  ever  really  been  as  mag- 
nificent as  it  has  been  described  to  us,  and  as  I 
had  reconstructed  it  in  thought.  To  what 
miracle  is  it  owin^  that  not  a  fragment  of 
the  walls  of  the  splendid  palaces  which  it  con- 
tained is  left  standing  ?  How  have  its  three 
hundred  towers,  its  marble  columns,  its  columns 
of  jasper  and  porphyry  described  in  such  pompous 
words,  fallen  without  leaving  a  trace  after  them  ? 
Rome,  sacked  by  barbarians,  still  shows  its  walls 
half  crumbled  away,  and  its  mutilated  statues. 
Without  seeking  so  far  for  examples,  the  Zapotec 
sees  the  superb  tombs  of  Mictlan  rise  above  the 
tangled  brush-wood,  Cholula  shows  us  its  pyra- 
mid, Palenque  its  bas-reliefs,  Chichen-Itza  its 
marvellous  architecture.  In  Mexico,  younger  by 
ten  centuries,  there  are  scarcely  any  traces  of  the 
past ;  the  modern  city  is  not  even  built,  as  one 
might  suppose,  with  the  ruins  of  its  ancestor. 
Up  to  the  present  time  the  excavations  —  insuffi- 
cient and  badly  directed,  it  is  true —  have  yielded 
but  a  small  number  of  statues  or  bas-reliefs.  The 
Spaniards  have  razed  all  the  buildings  and  pulver- 
ized all  the  images.  But  to  what  wind  have  they 
cast  this  dust,  so  that  no  field  is  whitened  with 
it?  This  is  certainly  a  problem.  On  the  one 
side  are  unanimous  affirmations,  on  the  other  the 


TENOCHTITLAN. 


279 


absence  of  sufficient  material  proofs  to  demon- 
strate to  us  that  the  witnesses  have  observed 
clearly.  Indeed,  Tenochtitlan  was  a  great  city, 
the  causeways  which  connected  it  with  the  land 
are  grand  works  still  admired  ;  but,  is  it  not 
strange  that  two  thousand  temples,  a  hundred 
palaces,  a  thousand  sumptuous  dwellings,  should 
have  disappeared  to  give  room  to  a  new  city, 
leaving  but  little  more  trace  of  them  than  a 
mirage  or  the  last  year's  snow  ? 

We  do  not  exaggerate.  If  no  vestige  of  the 
grand  buildings  of  the  past  is  now  seen  in  Mexico, 
from  time  to  time  we  discover,  generally  near  the 
cathedral,  when  the  soil  is  disturbed  in  public 
works,  walls,  statues,  bas-reliefs,  treasures  con- 
cealed, in  all  probability,  by  bishop  Zumarraga 
and  his  missionaries.  There  lies,  perhaps,  part 
of  the  city  for  which  I  have  sought  in  vain.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  capital  of  Mexico,  so  devoted 
to  the  arts,  may  some  day  carry  out  the  labors  ne- 
cessary to  exhume  the  monuments  of  its  history, 
buried  a  few  feet  under  the  ground,  and  which 
it  has  trod  upon  for  too  long  a  time  with  an 
indifference  unworthy  of   its  high  civilization. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Trades.   —  Stone-cutters.  —  Jewellers.  —  Potters.  — 
Weavers.  —  Physicians.  —  Baths.  —  Bleeding.  —  Food. 

—  Costumes.  —  Furniture. 

FOR  want  of  iron  or  steel  utensils,  the  first 
Aztec  artisans,  in  working  stone,  were  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to  substances  of  which  experi- 
ence had  taught  them  the  force  of  resistance. 
At  first,  like  all  other  people,  they  used  flint, 
which  they  gradually  replaced  by  obsidian,  which 
very  soon  took  the  place  of  all  other  material. 
With  this  substance  of  volcanic  origin  they  made 
knives,  arrow-points,  razors,  scrapers,  polishers, 
and  even  mirrors,  which  they  framed  in  gold  or 
silver. 

Obsidian,  a  mineral  with  a  feldspar  base,  of 
which  Mexico  has  many  beds,  —  the  most  cele- 
brated is  the  cerro  de  las  navajas,  —  is  found  un- 
der various  forms.  Sometimes  it  has  the  color 
of  gold  or  of  silver,  at  others  it  is  black,  blue, 
green,  red,  and  even  white.  The  Aztec  stone-cut- 
ters used  it  in  many  ways.  In  the  manufacture 
of  knives,  scrapers,  razors  or  lancets,  Torquemada, 
who  saw  them  at  work,  says  they  were  of  a  won- 
derful dexterity.  They  took  a  block  of  obsidian 
as  large  as  a  leg,  then  a  stick  the  size  of  a  lance- 


STONE-CUTTERS.  28 1 

shaft,  to  which  they  attached  a  small  piece  of  the 
stone.  Then  seating  themselves  on  the  ground, 
the  block  of  obsidian  held  between  the  feet  as  in 
a  vice,  they  grasped  the  stick  by  its  ends,  placed 
it  in  contact  with  the  top  of  the  stone,  and  drew 
it  towards  them  with  all  their  strength.  A 
pointed  chip,  sharpened  on  its  two  edges,  sud- 
denly detached  itself.  A  workman  thus  made 
a  score  of  knives  in  an  instant.  Thus  it  was 
by  pressure  that  the  Mexicans  obtained  cutting- 
utensils  from  a  nucleus  of  obsidian. 

But  blades  intended  for  swords,  small  figures, 
images  of  flowers,  fruits,  or  of  animals,  as  well  as 
masks  for  the  face  of  idols  in  certain  solemnities, 
seem  to  have  been  made  by  chipping.  These 
thousands  of  objects  cut  in  this  rebellious  mate- 
rial by  the  ancient  peoples  of  Anahuac,  who,  in 
addition  worked  granite,  marble,  and  rock-crystal, 
are  not  the  smallest  wonders  of  our  museums. 
On  this  subject  a  simple  walk  through  the  ethno- 
logic galleries  of  Trocadero,  so  rich,  and  so  scien- 
tifically arranged  by  Dr.  Hamy,  would  teach  the 
curious  in  a  few  minutes  more  than  they  could 
learn  from  the  most  minute  descriptions. 

The  Aztec  jewellers  were  very  skilful ;  they 
not  only  knew  the  value  of  precious  stones,  but 
could  cut  and  polish  them.  In  the  latter  opera- 
tion they  used  a  fine  sand ;  their  methods  of  cut- 
ting are  unknown  to  us.  The  stones  they  worked 
by  way  of  preference  were  emeralds,  amethysts, 
cornelians,    turquoises,    and    lastly,    iron-pyrites. 


282  THE    AZTECS. 

Real  emeralds  were  used  only  in  the  ornaments 
for  gods  and  sovereigns ;  as  to  the  false  ones  — 
fluorides  of  lime,  tinted  green  —  they  were  so 
abundant  that  all  the  nobles  possessed  a  great 
number  of  them,  and  we  know  that  after  their 
death  one  was  suspended  from  their  lower  lip, 
to  serve  them  for  a  heart  in  the  other  world. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  these  stones  was 
sent  to  Europe  during  the  years  following  the 
conquest,  and  when  Cortez  first  returned  to  Spain 
he  brought  back  many,  five  of  which  became  cele- 
brated. According  to  Gomara,  who  saw  them, 
one  of  these  stones  had  the  form  of  a  rose,  an- 
other that  of  a  horn,  a  third  represented  a  fish, 
the  eyes  of  which  were  of  gold,  and  the  fourth  a 
hand-bell,  for  which  a  pearl  served  as  a  clapper. 
Lastly,  the  most  valuable,  for  which  certain  Geno- 
ese merchants  offered  as  many  as  40,000  ducats, 
was  cut  in  the  form  of  a  cup  and  ornamented 
with  four  fine  golden  chains  connected  with  a 
pearl.  These  emeralds,  carved  by  order  of 
Cortez  by  the  jewellers  of  Mexico,  became  the 
property  of  his  second  wife,  Donna  Juana  Ramirez 
de  Arellano  y  Zuniga.  At  the  present  time  the 
Indians  are  not  only  no  longer  able  to  cut  pre- 
cious stones,  but  they  are  ignorant  of  the  location 
of  the  beds  formerly  so  productive. 

Copper-pyrites,  of  metallic  brilliancy,  was  often 
used  for  the  manufacture  of  mirrors.  Rock-crys- 
tal was  utilized  for  the  tentetl  ("  mouth  stone  "), 
with  which  the   nobles  decorated  their  lips,  and 


POTTERS  AND  WEAVERS.         283 

to  represent  fantastic  objects.  Agates,  marbles, 
and  jacles,  served  the  Aztec  jewellers  for  com- 
mon materials. 

The  ancient  Aztecs,  like  their  descendants, 
made  all  their  household  utensils  of  clay ;  and 
the  potters  of  Anahuac  were  very  skilful.  Be- 
sides the  objects  intended  for  domestic  use,  they 
modelled  images  of  the  gods,  puppets,  animals, 
whistles,  and  flageolets.  Among  their  tripod 
vases  —  a  characteristic  form  in  America,  and 
especially  in  Mexico  —  some  are  found  com- 
pletely European  in  appearance.  These  vases 
were  curious  on  account  of  their  workmanship,  as 
well  as  on  account  of  the  paintings  with  which 
they  were  decorated.  The  most  celebrated  pot- 
tery came  from  Cholula,  which  had  preserved  the 
traditions  of  Toltec  ceramics ;  none  of  it  was 
glazed,  but  it  was  colored  and  polished  with  care. 

Weavers  were  numerous  in  the  empire  of  Mo- 
teuczoma;  they  supplied  the  place  of  wool  with 
cotton,  that  of  silk  with  feathers  and  rabbit-skins, 
hemp  and  flax  with  the  fibre  of  several  kinds  of 
palms.  In  spinning  they  used  spindles  of  terra- 
cotta. With  cotton  thread  they  wove  cloth  as 
fine  as  the  linen  of  Holland,  cloth  which  they 
dyed  and  ornamented  with  designs  in  various 
colors.  With  feathers  and  cotton  they  manufac- 
tured a  fabric  as  soft  to  the  touch  as  it  was  agree- 
able to  the  eye,  which  was  used  for  mantles  and 
blankets.  From  two  species  of  agave  they  ob- 
tained, by  maceration,  thread  of  great  strength. 


284  THE   AZTECS. 

We  know  but  very  little  concerning  the  other 
trades  practised  by  the  Aztecs.  Their  tanners, 
by  a  process  unknown  to  us,  dressed  the  skins  of 
quadrupeds  and  birds  without  damage  to  the  hair 
or  to  the  feathers.  With  rushes  and  palm-leaves 
dyed  in  various  colors,  their  basket-makers  wove 
baskets  and  mats  of  great  fineness,  which  they 
ornamented  with  various  designs.  This  art  is 
still  in  vogue  among  the  Mistecs,  whose  works 
in  esparto  are  really  artistic  curiosities. 

The  Aztec  cabinet-makers  and  carpenters, 
whose  skill  was  recognized  by  the  Spaniards, 
used  implements  of  stone  and  bronze,  some  of 
which  have  been  preserved.  As  we  have  already 
remarked,  the  museums  are  filled  with  burnishers, 
polishers,  mortars,  pots.,  stones,  and  implements 
for  grinding,  —  instruments  of  every  nature,  the 
use  of  which,  unfortunately,  archaeologists  have 
frequently  great  difficulty  in  determining,  in  spite 
of  the  aid  afforded  by  the  ideographic  pictures. 

The  Aztecs  surprised  the  Spaniards  by  their 
industrial  skill.  Country  and  city  labors  were 
equally  well  understood  by  the  Aztecs,  and  none 
of  them  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  his 
neighbors  when  he  wished  to  build  a  cabin,  or 
to  obtain  the  different  materials  necessary  for 
this  task.  All  knew  how  to  cut  stone,  shape 
wood,  plait  rope,  and  weave  reed-mats.  At  a  very 
early  age,  children  learned  the  name  and  use  of 
the  animals,  of  the  trees,  and  of  the  plants  about 
them.      These  remarks,  made  by  Motolinia  soon 


MEDICINE.  285 

after  the  conquest,    are    still     applicable    to    the 
modern  Aztecs. 

The  art  of  medicine  in  Anahuac  seems  to 
have  attracted  the  attention  of  Spanish  authors 
but  little.  In  their  writings  they  confine  them- 
selves to  the  statement  that  the  Aztec  physi- 
cians were  very  familiar  with  the  properties  of 
plants,  and  that  with  their  aid  they  effected  mar- 
vellous cures..  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
Mexican  painters  themselves  make  no  mention  of 
the  healing  art ;  whence  it  must  be  inferred  that 
the  Aztec  physicians  contented  themselves  with 
communicating  the  results  of  their  experience  to 
their  sons,  without  formulating  them  into  axioms. 
However,  they  were  not  simple  empirics,  for  they 
recognized  the  different  phases  of  diseases.  Her- 
nandez, sent  to  Mexico  by  Philip  II.,  tells  us  so 
several  times  in  his  great  work  on  natural  his- 
tory. This  savant  had,  as  guides  in  his  stud- 
ies, Aztec  physicians,  who  made  known  to  him 
the  names  and  properties  of  twelve  hundred 
plants. 

Our  materia  medica  owes  tobacco,  gum-copal, 
liquid  amber,  sarsaparilla,  resin  of  tecamaca,  jalap, 
and  huaca,  to  the  Aztecs.  But  the  enumeration 
of  the  medicinal  plants  they  used,  which  their  de- 
scendants still  employ,  and  among  which  are  found 
purgatives,  emetics,  blood-purifiers,  sudorifics,  and 
vermifuges,  would  take  us  too  far  from  our  subject. 
Let  us  add  that  these  physicians  prepared  infu- 
sions, decoctions,  plasters,  ointments,  and  oils,  and 


286  THE   AZTECS. 

that  the  commonest  of  these  medicaments  were 
sold  and  still  are  sold  in  the  markets. 

Bleeding  was  in  use  among  the  Aztec  physi- 
cians, who  practised  it  very  skilfully  with  the  aid 
of  lancets  made  of  obsidian.  The  common  peo- 
ple bled  themselves,  either  with  agave-thorns  or 
with  porcupine-quills. 

The  conquering  Spaniards  have  spoken  highly 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  Aztec  physicians 
healed  wounds  and  sores  ;  and  Cortez,  severely 
wounded  in  the  head  at  the  battle  of  Otomba, 
was  cured  by  the  Tlaxcaltecs.  Is  this  a  question 
of  environment  ?  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  is 
a  tradition  in  Mexico  that  wounds  in  the  head, 
always  dangerous  on  high  plateaus,  heal  promptly 
in  the  Warm  Lands,  where,  on  the  other  hand, 
wounds  on  the  legs  fester  very  easily.  Let  us 
remark  that  in  every  case  the  manner  of  dress- 
ing wounds  followed  by  the  Aztecs  is  held  in 
esteem  at  the  present  time  ;  for  their  first  care 
was  to  remove  the  injured  part  from  the  influences 
of  the  air,  by  covering  it  with  aromatic  resins. 

The  Aztec  physicians,  it  is  needless  to  remark, 
applied  their  medicaments  with  a  thousand  super- 
stitious ceremonies,  —  invocations  to  the  gods,  and 
imprecations  against  the  disease  with  which  they 
were  compelled  to  struggle.  The  modern  Indian 
bone-setters  remember  these  practices,  as  well  as 
those  which  consist  in  removing  bones,  stones, 
reptiles,  insects,  or  hairs  from  the  afflicted  part 
of  the  body. 


BATHS.  287 

The  bath  played  an  important  role  in  the  hy- 
giene of  the  Mexicans ;  but  there  was  one  which 
Torquemada  contents  himself  with  merely  men- 
tioning, and  which  would  probably  be  unknown 
to  us,  if  its  usage  had  not  been  perpetuated  up  to 
our  own  day.     I  refer  to  the  "  temascalli." 

The  temascalli  is  generally  constructed  of 
bricks,  and  its  form  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
ovens  of  our  bakers,  with  the  difference  that  the 
bottom  is  concave  instead  of  flat.  Its  diameter 
is  generally  eight  feet,  its  height  six,  and  its  en- 
trance is  scarcely  large  enough  for  a  man  to  pass 
through  it  on  his  knees.  Opposite  this  entrance 
is  a  furnace  with  a  hole  in  its  upper  part  intended 
to  allow  the  smoke  to  escape.  The  stone  which 
separates  the  grate  from  the  oven  is  of  a  porous 
nature. 

The  bather,  provided  with  a  jar  of  water  and 
a  whip  made  of  aromatic  plants,  enters  the  oven, 
the  adjoining  part  of  which  has  been  previously 
superheated,  stretches  himself  on  a  mat,  and 
throws  the  water  on  to  the  porous  stone.  A 
thick  vapor  is  immediately  produced ;  the  bather 
then  whips  his  body  with  the  aromatic  herbs,  and 
a  copious  sweat  soon  covers  his  members.  This, 
it  will  be  seen,  is  the  famous  vapor-bath  which 
we  have  borrowed  from  the  Russians,  who  have 
possibly  themselves  borrowed   it  from  the  Aztecs. 

The  bath  of  temascalli  is  regarded  as  effica- 
cious against  rheumatism,  fever,  and  the  bite  of 
venomous   animals.     It  is   in  such  common  use, 


288  THE   AZTECS. 

especially  for  women  after  their  deliverance,  that 
there  are  but  few  villages  in  Mexico  which  do  not 
possess  at  least  one  of  them. 

During  the  long  years  of  wretchedness  passed 
in  the  islands  of  their  lake,  hunger  compelled  the 
Aztecs  to  support  themselves  on  what  they 
found  in  the  waters.  They  accustomed  them- 
selves, at  that  time,  to  eat  not  only  the  roots  of 
aquatic  plants,  snakes,  and  axolotls, — those  strange 
batrachians,  —  but  also  ants,  flies,  and  their  eggs. 

The  axayacatl  —  this  is  the  name  they  gave 
to  the  fly  which  they  used  as  food  —  was  so 
abundant  that  they  could  not  only  live  on  it 
themselves,  but  use  it  as  food  for  the  birds  they 
raised.  They  made  a  dough  of  these  flies,  which 
they  seasoned  with  saltpetre,  and  which  they 
cooked  in  leaves  of  maize.  This  strange  dish, 
according  to  the  Spaniards,  who  tasted  it,  was 
not  disagreeable  to  the  palate.  A  sort  of  caviare, 
to  which  birds  were  very  partial,  was  made  with  the 
eggs  which  the  axayacatl  deposited  in  great  num- 
bers on  the  reeds  of  the  lake.  The  Aztecs  also 
ate,  and  still  eat,  a  foul  substance  which  floats  on 
the  waters  of  the  lake.  Having  dried  it  in  the 
sun,  they  kept  it  to  use  in  the  form  of  cheese,  the 
taste  of  which  it  recalls. 

Accustomed  to  this  wretched  food,  they  did  not 
renounce  it  entirely  when  prosperity  came ;  hence 
their  markets  were  supplied  with  flies,  ants,  grass- 
hoppers, larva;  from  palm-trees  or  from  the  agave, 
raw,    fried,    or    roasted,   which    the    poor    usually 


FOOD.  289 

bought.      Nevertheless,   in     their   banquets     the 
dishes  were  many  and  varied. 

Maize,  which  they  called  "  tlaolli  "  and  "  centli," 
took  the  place  with  them  of  the  wheat  of  Europe, 
the  rice  of  Asia,  and  the  millet  of  Africa,  —  with 
the  advantage  that  its  yield  is  larger  than  that  of 
the  other  cereals,  that  it  accommodates  itself  to 
all  climates,  and  that  it  requires  less  care.  The 
Aztecs  had  several  varieties  of  maize,  distinct  in 
size,  color,  and  quality.  They  made  a  sort  of 
bread  from  it,  or  rather  a  species  of  cake  which 
took  the  place  of  bread,  and  which  their  descend- 
ants still  eat.  To  prepare  these  cakes,  the  grains 
of  maize  are  boiled  in  water  to  which  lime  is 
added.  When  the  grains  are  swollen  and  soft- 
ened, they  are  pressed  in  the  hands  to  remove 
the  skin,  and  the  mass  thus  obtained  is  crushed 
on  a  stone  called  "  metatl,"  with  the  aid  of  a  rol- 
ler also  made  of  stone.  With  this  paste,  they 
make  —  by  flattening  it  between  the  hands  — 
"  tortillas,"  or  cakes  having  the  appearance  and 
size  of  our  pan-cakes;  they  are  cooked  on  a  round 
piece  of  clay  called  "comalli,"  placed  over  a 
wood-fire.  The  women  made  this  bread  then, 
and  do  so  now.  Maize  was  not  eaten  only  in 
the  form  of  small  cakes.  Crushed  and  cooked 
in  water,  it  made  a  sort  of  porridge  called  "  atolli." 
This  is  another  of  the  ancient  Aztec  dishes  which 
the  modern   Indians  are  unwilling  to  give  up. 

Next    to    maize    the    most    highly   appreciated 
natural  production,  not  only  among  the  Mexicans 

19 


29O  THE    AZTECS. 

but  among  all  the  peoples  of  Anahuac,  was,  be- 
yond contradiction,  cacao,  which  they  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  many  beverages,  among  others  the 
celebrated  "  chocolatl."  This  drink  was  prepared 
by  grinding  in  alabaster  vases  equal  parts  of  cacao- 
beans  and  seeds  of  pochotl  or  sequoia,  which  were 
then  boiled.  This  liquid  was  shaken  up  to  make 
it  frothy,  mixed  with  dough  made  of  maize,  and 
then  submitted  to  a  new  cooking  to  thicken  it. 
By  way  of  preference  this  beverage  was  drunk 
lukewarm.  Such  was  the  original  manner  of  pre- 
paring chocolate,  which,  adopted  by  all  the  civil- 
ized nations  of  Europe,  and  modified  according 
to  the  particular  taste  of  each  of  them,  has  be- 
come an  almost  national  article  of  diet  in  France 
as  well  as  in  Spain.  The  Mexicans  aromatized 
this  drink  with  certain  flowers,  which  we  have 
replaced  with  vanilla,  and  the  Spaniards  with  cin- 
namon.    They  sweeten  it  with  honey. 

Very  frugal,  the  Aztec  ate  and  still  eats  very 
little  meat ;  however,  at  banquets  and  even  daily 
on  the  table  of  the  wealthy  were  found  deer,  pec- 
caries, rabbits,  enormous  moles  called  "  tuzas,"  te- 
chichis,  turkeys,  partridges,  fish,  turtles,  iguanas, 
and  birds  of  many  species,  —  grallic,  palmiped, 
gallinaceous,  and  passerine. 

At  that  time  as  in  our  own  day,  black  beans 
constituted  a  national  dish  among  the  Aztecs. 
Many  fruits,  also,  adorned  their  tables,  and  de- 
lighted the  eye  while  they  pleased  the  palate. 
The  commonest  were  the  mamey,  achras  zapota, 


FOOD. 


291 


which  furnishes  the  gum  called  "  chicle,"  which 
the  Creoles  are  fond  of  chewing ;  the  chicozapota, 
lucuma  salicifolium  ;  the  black  zapota,  diospiros 
obresifolia ;  the  banana,  bromelia  ananas ;  the 
chirimoya,  anona  cherimolia ;  the  ahuacatl  or 
vegetable  butter,  laurtis  persca  ;  the  Barbary  fig, 
and  twentv  others.  In  this  nomenclature  we 
ought  not  to  forget  tapioca,  sago,  the  sweet- 
potato,  onions,  dahlia  tubercles,  shoots,  leaves, 
flowers,  or  roots  of  a  number  of  vegetables. 

In  the  midst  of  this  abundance  of  eatables  the 
Aztecs  had  neither  milk  nor  butter,  not  even 
grease  ;  and  as  to  eggs,  they  ate  only  those  of 
turkeys,  iguanas,  and  turtles.  For  seasoning  they 
used  salt,  pepper,  allspice,  tomatoes,  and  certain 
aromatic  plants. 

They  made  use  of  many  vinous  beverages, 
which  they  manufactured  from  the  stalks  or 
grains  of  maize.  The  most  celebrated  of  these 
liquors,  "  chicla,"  was  common  to  all  the  peoples  of 
America,  and  was  prepared  in  twenty  different 
ways.  But,  besides  palm-tree  wine,  obtained  with 
difficulty,  and  the  drinks  made  by  the  fermenta- 
tion of  sweet  fruits,  and  known  under  the  generic 
name  of  "  tepaches,"  the  favorite  beverage  of  the 
Aztecs  was,  and  still  is,  pulque,  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken. 

Was  the  sugar-cane  known  to  the  peoples  of 
Anahuac  ?  Many  indications  tend  to  show  that 
it  was.  The  fact  that  Columbus  supplied  himself 
with  stalks  of  this  plant  at  the  time  of  his  voyage 


292  THE    AZTECS. 

to  the  Canary  Isles  would  not  prove  that  it  was 
not  cultivated  in  the  country  in  which  he  landed. 

The  Aztecs  ate  on  mats,  seated  on  little  benches 
made  of  wood  or  reeds.  They  made  use  of  nap- 
kins and  plates,  but  they  were  familiar  with  nei- 
ther spoons  nor  forks  ;  they  still  disdain  the  use  of 
them.  Several  species  of  gourds  supplied  them 
with  cups  and  bottles,  which  they  painted  very 
artistically.  Their  meals  were  regular.  In  the 
morning,  after  a  few  hours  of  work,  they  lunched 
on  atolli  broth  ;  they  dined  about  mid-day.  We 
know  nothing  in  regard  to  their  supper. 

After  their  dinner  the  dignitaries  smoked  and 
took  a  siesta.  They  did  not  smoke  tobacco  ex- 
clusively, but  used  other  aromatic  plants,  with 
which  they  filled  simple  reeds.  They  inhaled  the 
smoke  vigorously  that  it  might  penetrate  the 
lungs.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  descendants 
of  the  inventors  of  this  singular  custom,  adopted 
by  every  people,  should  have  abandoned  it.  Few 
Indians  smoke,  and  none  of  them  use  snuff. 

The  ordinary  clothing  of  the  Aztecs  was  very 
elementary ;  that  of  men  consisted  of  a  large  gir- 
dle called  "  maxatl,"  then  a  piece  of  cloth  four  feet 
long,  which  enveloped  the  body,  and  two  corners 
of  which  were  knotted  upon  the  breast  or  upon 
the  shoulder.  This  "  timatli  "  (mantle)  is  now  the 
famous  "  sarape,"  which  to-day  completes  the  toilet 
of  the  modern  Mexicans.  The  costume  of  the 
women  was  almost  as  simple,  for  it  was  composed 
of  a  piece  of  cloth,  "cueitl,"  which  they  wrapped 


CLOTHING. 


293 


around  their  bodies,  and  which  descended  a  little 
below  the  knee  ;  over  this  skirt  they  wore  a  sleeve- 
less chemise  called  "  huepilli."  These  primitive 
garments  are  still  worn  by  the  Indian  men 
and  women  ;  they  varied  more  in  color  than  in 
shape  (see  fig.  3). 

The  cloth  used  by  the  ordinary  people  in  the 
making  of  their  apparel  was  woven  from  thread 
obtained  from  the  agave  or  the  palm-tree,  or  from 
a  coarse  cotton-fibre.  Finer  cloth  was  made  for 
the  rich,  dyed  in  various  colors,  often  ornamented 
with  flowers  or  pictures  of  animals,  frequently 
also  interwoven  with  feathers  and  ornamented 
with  bits  of  gold.  The  nobles  generally  wore 
two  or  three  mantles,  and  their  wives  the  same 
number  of  petticoats,  all  of  equal  length  but  of 
different  colors.  Besides  this,  they  muffled  them- 
selves up  in  a  sort  of  surplice,  such  as  Catholic 
priests  wear,  but  with  wider  sleeves.  The  foot- 
wear of  the  two  sexes  consisted  simply  of  sandals 
made  of  leather  or  agave-thread,  the  straps  of 
which  the  wealthy  ornamented  with  gold  cord  or 
precious  stones. 

All  the  Aztecs  allowed  their  hair  to  grow,  for 
they  regarded  it  as  dishonorable  to  cut  it  off,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  young  girls,  who  consecrated 
themselves  to  the  worship  of  the  gods.  The 
women  wore  their  hair  flowing  or  arranged  in 
plaits  with  which  they  surrounded  the  forehead, 
—  a  fashion  they  have  not  yet  abandoned.  The 
men   dressed   their  hair  in   various  ways,  and  in 


294  THE  AZTECS- 

war  or  while  engaged  in  dances  they  surmounted 
it  with  bunches  of  feathers.  Both  sexes  were 
fond  of  painting  the  face,  the  breast,  the  arms,  the 
feet,  the  hair,  using  red,  yellow,  and  black  cos- 
metics. According  to  Sahagun,  the  noble  women 
colored  the  teeth  red  with  carmine  obtained  from 
cochineal. 

If  their  clothes  were  of  great  simplicity,  the 
Aztecs  were,  on  the  other  hand,  very  fond  of 
jewels.  Besides  the  feathers,  the  small  golden 
figures,  the  precious  stones  which  they  suspended 
from  their  cloaks,  they  ornamented  their  ears  and 
lower  lip  with  them,  and  loaded  their  necks,  their 
arms,  and  their  legs,  with  collars,  bracelets  and 
rings.  Poor  people  used  mother-of-pearl,  crystal, 
amber,  and  brilliant  stones  for  their  ear-rings ; 
wealthy  people,  pearls,  emeralds,  turquoises,  and 
amethysts  mounted  in  gold. 

Their  furniture  was  no  more  in  keeping  with 
the  taste  for  luxury  which  the  fondness  of  the 
Aztecs  for  jewels  showed  they  possessed,  than 
was  their  clothing.  Their  beds  were  composed 
of  rush-mats  more  or  less  fine,  which  the  wealthy 
covered  with  cloth,  and  the  kings  with  a  fabric 
made  of  feathers.  The  pillow  of  the  poor,  then 
as  now,  consisted  of  a  stone  or  a  piece  of  wood. 
The  men  used  their  mantles  for  coverings ;  we 
have  already  seen  that  the  wealthy  had  them 
made  of  fabrics  of  feathers  or  cotton. 

None  of  the  peoples  of  Anahuac  were  ac- 
quainted  with   lamps,  bougies,  or  candles;  these 


FURNITURE.  295 

were  afterwards  brought  from  Spain,  and  excited 
the  admiration  of  the  Indians.  On  the  coasts 
the  inhabitants  used  a  phosphorescent  insect 
called  cucullo  {pyroplioros  angustipeiinis)  for  light- 
ing. However,  the  most  usual  light  consisted  of 
torches  and  of  pine-branches.  Moreover,  these 
people  did  not  stay  up  after  dark  ;  hard  workers, 
the  fatigues  of  the  day  obliged  them,  and  still 
oblige  them,  to  seek  rest  at  nightfall. 

To  obtain  fire  the  Aztecs  rubbed  two  dry 
branches  of  the  annatto  tree  together.  It  is 
claimed,  but  without  proof,  that  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  flint  and  steel.  Like  the 
Romans  and  many  other  nations,  they  kept  up 
a  perpetual  fire  in  their  temples. 

They  were  not  acquainted  with  soap,  but  they 
supplied  its  place  with  a  fruit  and  a  root.  The 
fruit,  still  used,  is  that  of  the  copaxocotl,  under 
the  envelope  of  which  is  found  a  pulp,  which,  dis- 
solved in  water,  renders  it  frothy.  The  root  is 
that  of  the  amolli  {saponaria  americand).  The 
fruit  of  the  copaxocotl  served  in  cleaning  clothes  ; 
the  amolli  was  used  for  the  toilet. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Language.  —  Poetry.  —  Eloquence.  -     The   Theatre.  — 
Music. —  Dances.  — Sports  and  Amusements. 


T 


HE  great  number  of  idioms  in  use  in  the  ter- 
ritory  of  Anahuac  —  even  at  the  present  time 
there  are  about  twenty  —  was  not  an  obstacle  to 
the  commerce  of  the  Aztecs.  Their  language, 
which  the  Toltecs  had  spoken,  which  the  Alcol- 
huas  and  all  the  tribes  of  Chichimec  origin  still 
speak,  was  also  generally  learned  by  the  other 
nations  conquered  by  them. 

The  consonants  of  the  Aztec  alphabet  are  the 
same  as  those  of  the  English,  omitting  the  letters, 
d,  d,f,  g,j\  k,  r,  s,  and  w.  The  other  letters,  with 
the  exception  of  v,  are  pronounced  as  they  are 
in  French.  The  ambiguous  articulation  of  the 
Spanish  v  was  a  cause  of  trouble  for  the  first 
writers  in  the  Aztec  language,  and  hence  a  de- 
plorable anarchy  exists  in  words  in  which  this 
letter  is  found.  Thus  the  word  "  drum "  is 
written  "vevetl"  "  ueuetl,"  or  "huehuetl." 

Among;  the  vowels  o  is  the  only  one  of  which 
the  sound  is  not  well  defined  ;  it  resembles  the 
sound  of  the  French  diphthong  eu,  which  has  no 
equivalent  in  Spanish.  Father  Carochi,  author 
of  a  grammar  which  is  the  standard,  thinks  the 


LANGUAGE. 


297 


word  for  "  God"  should  be  written  "  Teotl,"  and 
not  "  Teutl ;  "  "  ichpotli '  (young  girl),  and  not 
"  ichputli."  If  we  have  not  always  respected  this 
rule,  it  is  because  we  have  been  obliged  to  obey  cus- 
tom,—  that  despot  which  so  often  defies  reason. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to  choose, 
among  the  various  orthographies  adopted  by  dif- 
ferent Spanish  writers  from  the  earliest  times,  the 
correct  one.  Thus,  to  cite  but  one  example, 
the  name  of  the  first  Mexican  kino:  is  written 
"  Acamapich,"  "Acamapichi,"  "  Acamapitzin," 
"  Acamapixtli,"  "  Acamapitz  "  "  Acamapic,"  etc. 
In  such  cases  we  have  always  adopted  the  most 
modern  form  of  orthography, —  first,  because  it 
reproduces  the  pronunciation  of  the  indigenes 
of  Anahuacwith  greater  exactness  ;  and  secondly, 
because  it  is  supported  by  etymology. 

The  Aztec  alphabet,  compared  with  those  of 
European  nations,  is,  as  we  have  seen,  poor.  The 
consonants  most  frequently  used  are:  /,  /,  x,  z; 
next,  the  sounds  //  and  tz.  Although  the  con- 
sonant /  is  of  most  frequent  occurrence,  it  is 
curious  to  notice  that  it  is  never  found  at  the 
beginning  of'  a  word. 

The  Aztec  lan<niaq;e,  sweet  and  harmonious  to 
the  ear,  has  no  sharp  or  nasal  sounds;  the  penul- 
timate syllable  of  almost  all  its  words  is  long. 

In  Aztec  words  the  plural  is  formed  by  a 
change  in  termination.  Thus,  in  substantives  ter- 
minating in  //,  this  last  syllable  is  replaced  by 
me;  for   instance,  "  pitzotl,"   the   pig,  "pitzome," 


298  THE   AZTECS. 

the  pigs;  " cuicuitzcatl,"  the  swallow,  "cuicuit- 
zame,"  the  swallows.  This  rule  is  only  applica- 
ble to  words  terminating  in  tl;  words  that  end  in 
hna  use  que,  etc. 

Genders  do  not  exist  in  the  Mexican  lanjniage  ; 
thus  "  mixtli  "  denotes  lioness  as  well  as  lion.  To 
distinguish  the  sexes,  the  Aztecs  use  the  words 
"  oquichtli,"  male,  and  "  cihuatl,"  female,  of  which 
they  rejected  the  termination.  Thus,  "  oquimixtli  " 
means  the  lion,  and  "cihuamixtli  "  the  lioness. 

The  Aztec  language  has  neither  comparatives 
nor  superlatives,  and  in  their  stead  it  employs 
particles.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  even  more 
diminutives  and  augmentatives  than  Italian  ;  and 
its  substantives  and  verbs  are  more  numerous 
than  in  any  other  language.  Each  verb,  more- 
over, by  the  addition  of  certain  letters  produces 
a  multitude  of  others. 

By  the  union  of  simple  words  the  Aztecs 
formed  compound  vocables  ;  and  these  new  words 
are  frequently  a  veritable  definition  of  the  object 
they  designate.  Almost  all  the  names  of  ani- 
mals, plants,  and  cities  belong  to  this  category. 

The  Aztec  language  is  rich,  exact,  and  ex- 
pressive. A  proof  of  its  richness  is  found  in  the 
"  Natural  History  "  of  Dr.  Hernandez,  who,  having 
described  twelve  hundred  plants,  two  hundred 
birds,  many  quadrupeds,  reptiles,  insects,  and 
metals,  collected  in  Mexico,  was  able  to  mention 
each  of  them  by  a  special  name  which  the  Indians 
gave  them.     Another  proof  of  its  wealth  is  found 


ELOQUENCE.  299 

in  the  fact  that  the  first  missionaries  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  making  it  express  the  abstract  ideas  of 
the  religion  in  which  they  wished  to  instruct  those 
who  spoke  it. 

Among  a  people  in  possession  of  a  rich,  har- 
monious, and  exact  language,  orators  and  poets 
must  have  been  numerous.  The  Aztecs  culti- 
vated poetry  and  eloquence,  but  without  recog- 
nizing all  their  advantages.  Those  who  were 
destined  for  the  art  of  oratory  accustomed  them- 
selves from  youth  to  speak  with  elegance ;  they 
learned  by  heart  the  harangues  pronounced  by 
their  ancestors  and  preserved  by  tradition. 

It  was  especially  in  embassies,  in  councils,  or 
in  the  expression  of  congratulations  addressed 
to  the  king,  that  the  Aztec  orators  had  an  op- 
portunity to  shine.  They  of  course  cannot  be 
compared  to  those  of  the  Old  World ;  neverthe- 
less they  could  find  good  arguments,  and  could 
arouse  and  convince,  as  we  may  judge  from  the 
fragments  of  speeches  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  and  by  the  numerous  addresses  which 
Sahagun  has  preserved. 

As  an  example  of  this  eloquence,  of  which  we 
have  been  enabled  to  judge  already  in  the  "  coun- 
sels of  a  father  to  his  son,  and  of  a  mother  to  her 
daughter,"  we  shall  translate  the  speech  which  the 
king  of  the  Alcolhuas  addressed  to  Moteuczoma 
II.,  the  day  on  which  he  was  elected  emperor :  — 

"  The  happiness  which  presides  over  the  destiny 
of  the    Mexican    nation,"  said  the    sovereign,  "  is 


300  THE   AZTECS. 

doubly  shown  in  the  election  of  to-day,  —  by  the 
unanimity  of  the  votes,  and  by  the  universal  joy 
with  which  their  results  have  been  received. 
This  joy  is  proper,  for  the  empire  of  Anahuac  has 
reached  such  a  degree  of  grandeur  that  nothing 
less,  O  lord,  than  the  strength  of  thy  invincible 
heart,  and  the  wisdom  which  we  admire  in  thee, 
could  sustain  it.  I  clearly  see  with  what  love 
the  Supreme  God  regards  this  nation,  since  He 
has  enlightened  us  in  such  a  manner  that  we 
have  chosen  him  who  can  orovern  it  the  best. 
Who  would  dare  to  doubt  that  the  man  who 
so  many  times  has  shown  the  strength  of  his 
mind,  when  he  was  a  private  individual,  will  do 
still  more  now  that  he  has  need  of  this  knowl- 
edge ?  Who  can  doubt  that,  where  exists  so 
much  courage  and  wisdom,  the  support  of  the 
widow  and  of  the  orphan  will  be  found  ?  The 
Aztec  empire  has  certainly  just  reached  the  ze- 
nith of  its  power,  since  its  king  inspires  respect 
in  all  those  who  see  him.  Rejoice,  happy  nation, 
in  having  for  master  a  sovereign  who  will  be 
the  support  of  thy  happiness,  in  whom  all  thy 
children  will  find  a  father  and  a  brother,  —  a 
sovereign  who  will  not  abuse  his  power,  who 
will  not  deliver  himself  up  to  effeminacy,  nor 
to  pleasures,  whose  heart  will  always  be  solicitous 
for  thy  welfare,  and  to  whom  no  meats  will  ap- 
pear delicate,  so  much  will  he  be  occupied  with 
thy  happiness.  As  to  thee,  noble  lord,  take 
confidence,  and  be   assured   that  the  Creator  of 


POETRY.  3OI 

heaven,  who  has  just  raised  thee  to  such  a  high 
dignity,  will  give  thee  the  strength  to  fulfil  the 
duties  which   it  imposes." 

This  eulogy,  it  will  be  seen,  contains  excellent 
advice ;  and  it  was  certainly  not  among  a  people 
of  barbarians  that  a  man  thought  and  expressed 
himself  in  this  manner. 

Besides,  the  Aztecs,  from  a  very  early  date, 
chose  their  pontiffs,  their  generals,  and  their  ad- 
ministrators, from  among  their  eloquent  men,  not 
taking  their  origin  into  consideration  ;  and  these 
dignitaries  fulfilled  their  functions  with  an  ardent 
zeal.  Cruel  and  implacable  toward  the  enemies 
of  their  country,  they,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
just  and  humane  toward  their  fellow-countrymen. 

Poets,  among  the  Aztecs,  were  more  numerous 
than  orators ;  their  verses  were  measured  and 
cadenced.  The  poetry  of  the  Aztecs  was  brilliant 
and  imaged  ;  it  borrowed  its  comparisons  from  the 
flowers,  the  trees,  the  brooks,  the  most  pleasing 
objects  of  nature.  In  poetry  the  Mexicans  used 
compound  words  by  way  of  preference ;  these 
words  were  often  long  enough  to  constitute  a 
verse. 

A  great  variety  of  subjects  were  treated  of  in 
poetry;  most  frequently  they  composed  hymns  in 
honor  of  the  gods,  which  were  sung  in  the  tem- 
ples and  during  the  sacred  dances.  The  poets 
likewise  composed  verses  in  which  they  recounted 
the  adventures  of  the  nation  or  the  glorious  ac- 
tions of  their  heroes,  —  compositions  which  were 


302  THE   AZTECS. 

declaimed  during  the  profane  fetes.  They  also 
cultivated  the  ode ;  however,  among  them  it  gen- 
erally ended  with  a  useful  lesson.  Hunting  and 
fishing  usually  furnished  the  topics  for  their  de- 
scriptive poems.  The  infrequency  with  which 
love  is  brought  into  play  in  Aztec  verse  is,  as 
Clavigero  remarked,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
poets  were  almost  always  priests. 

A  king  of  the  Alcolhuas,  Nezahualcoyotl,  was 
himself  a  great  poet,  and  his  example  made  versi- 
fication fashionable  at  his  court.  We  are  told 
that  a  poet  condemned  to  death  for  some  crime, 
wrote  some  verses  in  which  he  bade  adieu  to  the 
world  in  such  a  touching  way  that  the  musicians 
of  the  court,  all  of  whom  were  his  friends,  deter- 
mined to  sing  them  before  the  king.  The  latter, 
hearing  the  verses,  was  so  moved  by  them  that  he 
granted  the  culprit  his  life,  —  a  fact  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  Alcolhuas.  According  to  Torque- 
mada,  who  also  relates  this  legend,  the  culprit 
was  the  son-in-law  of  Nezahualcoyotl  himself, 
falsely  accused  of  adultery.  Led  into  the  pres- 
ence of  his  father-in-law,  who  had  recognized  his 
innocence,  and  believing  he  was  on  his  way  to 
death,  the  poet  recited  his  verses;  they  obtained 
him  congratulations  and  new  honors. 

The  Aztecs  had  a  taste  not  only  for  lyric 
but  also  for  dramatic  poetry.  The  stage  on 
which  they  represented  their  dramas  was  a  simple 
platform  built  under  the  open  sky  in  the  market- 
places or  on  the  lower  step  of  the  temples.     The 


THEATRE.  303 

stage  in  Mexico,  according  to  Cortez,  was  six  feet 
high  and  thirty  feet  square. 

There  is  little  probability  that  in  their  dramatic 
compositions  the  Aztecs  observed  the  rules  recog- 
nized in  the  Old  World.  However,  we  have  a 
general  idea  of  their  talent  in  this  art  in  a  de- 
scription  by  Father  Acosta  of  a  performance 
given  in  Cholula  on  the  occasion  of  the  feast  of 
the  o;od  Ouetzacoatl :  — 

"  Near  the  lower  step  of  the  temple  of  this 
god,"  says  the  learned  Jesuit,  "  there  was  a  small 
stage  carefully  whitewashed,,  which  was  orna- 
mented with  branches,  wreaths  of  flowers,  and 
feathers,  from  which  were  suspended  birds,  rab- 
bits, and  fruits,  the  whole  picturesquely  arranged. 
To  this  place  the  people  hastened  after  dinner. 
The  actors  suddenly  appeared  and  presented 
scenes  of  buffoonery.  They  pretended  to  be 
deaf,  lame,  blind,  and  paralyzed,  and  prayed  the 
idols  to  cure  them.  The  deaf  answered  those 
who  spoke  to  them  with  cock  and  bull  stories, 
the  lame  with  acrobatic  feats ;  all  these  actors,  by 
displaying  their  afflictions,  excited  the  laughter  of 
the  public. 

"  These  buffoons  were  succeeded  by  others  who 
represented  animals.  One  was  a  beetle,  another 
a  toad,  a  third  a-  crocodile,  etc.  These  ani- 
mals discoursed  among  themselves,  explained  the 
parts  they  played  upon  earth,  and  each  of  them 
claimed  to  be  the  first.  The  people  loudly 
applauded   these   actors,    who   were    very  skilful 


304  THE  AZTECS. 

in  representing  the  ways  of  the  animals  they 
were  imitating.  Next  came  the  pupils  of  the 
seminaries,  provided  with  wings  of  butterflies  or 
of  birds  of  different  colors.  These  children  took 
refuge  in  trees  arranged  for  the  purpose,  and  the 
priests  pelted  them  with  pellets  of  earth  with  the 
aid  of  blow-guns,  while  addressing  comic  admoni- 
tions to  them.  A  ballet,  in  which  all  the  actors 
took  part,  ended  the  performance."  This  is  all 
that  is  known  of  the  Mexican  stage,  and  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Father  Acosta's  description 
recalls  the  stage  of  Thespis  rather  than  the  art  of 
y£schylus. 

The  music  of  the  Aztecs  was  unworthy  of  so 
cultivated  a  people.  They  were  not  acquainted 
with  stringed  instruments ;  those  they  used  were 
confined  to  the  "huehuetle,"the  "  teponastle,"  trum- 
pets, sea-shells,  and  flutes  —  generally  made  of 
terra-cotta  —  which  produced  shrill  sounds.  The 
huehuetle  was  a  wooden  cylinder,  three  feet  high, 
carved  and  ornamented  with  paintings,  its  top 
covered  with  skin  of  a  deer,  which  could  be 
stretched  or  loosened  at  will,  according  as  they 
wished  to  produce  deep  or  rumbling  sounds. 
This  drum  was  played  by  striking  its  head  with 
the  fingers,  which  required  a  certain  amount  of 
skill. 

The  teponastle,  still  in  use  in  some  towns,  is  a 
hollow  wooden  cylinder,  with  no  openings  but 
two  longitudinal  parallel  slits  close  together.  The 
strip  of  wood  between  the  two  slits  is  struck  with 


MUSIC. 


305 


two  rods,  like  our  drum-sticks,  but  covered  with 
rubber  to  make  the  sound  softer.  The  dimen- 
sions of  the  teponastle  varied  greatly  ;  some  which 
the  musician  suspended  from  his  neck  were  small, 
while  others  were  five  feet  long.  In  using  them 
they  were  placed  on  a  pedestal,  which  very  often 
represented  a  man  in  a  bent  position,  a  tiger,  or  a 
monkey.  The  noise  produced  by  this  instrument, 
which  I  have  frequently  heard,  has  something 
melancholy  in  its  tones;  and  it  is  audible  at  a 
great  distance. 

Must  we  count  among  the  musical  instruments 
of  the  Aztecs  the  bones  of  deer,  and  even  of  men, 
which  were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  distin- 
guished dead  on  the  day  of  their  funeral  ?  These 
bones,  notched  their  whole  length,  were  rubbed 
against  each  other  or  against  a  shell.  The  sound 
they  produced  can  be  imagined;  it  certainly 
lacked  harmony.  We  must  also  mention  the 
"  axacaxtlt,"  —  a  sort  of  gourd  pierced  with  holes, 
which  was  filled  with  small  stones.  These  enor- 
mous rattles,  shaken  in  time  with  the  other 
instruments,  took  the  place  of  castanets. 

Drums,  flutes,  even  conch  shells  accompanied 
the  hymns  sung  in  the  temples,  which  were  chanted 
in  a  sing-song  manner,  in  a  rude,  monotonous 
tune,  fatiguing  to  European  ears.  But  the  Aztecs 
took  so  much  pleasure  in  them  that  they  fre- 
quently sang  during  entire  days.  In  spite  of  this 
taste  music  is  the  only  art  that  remained  in 
infancy  among  them. 


20 


306  THE   AZTECS. 

Bad  musicians,  the  Mexicans,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  very  skilful  in  the  art  of  dancing,  in 
which  they  exercised  themselves  under  the  direc- 
tion of  priests  from  childhood.  Their  dances, 
which  were  of  great  variety,  had  different  names. 
They  danced  in  circles,  or  arranged  in  files,  be- 
tween which  a  dancer  executed  fancy  steps.  The 
women  often  took  part  in  this  amusement.  For 
this  recreation  the  nobles  put  on  their  most 
costly  clothes,  and  decked  themselves  with  jewels 
of  gold,  of  silver,  or  of  feathers.  They  bore  a 
light  shield  in  one  hand,  in  the  other  they  carried 
one  of  the  gourds  filled  with  stones  of  which  we 
have  spoken  above.  While  going  through  their 
steps  they  shook  this  rattle  to  keep  time  with  the 
airs  played  by  the  musicians.  When  the  plebe- 
ians danced  they  muffled  themselves  in  disguises, 
of  papyrus,  of  skins,  or  of  feathers,  representing 
animals. 

In  the  ordinary  dances  —  those  intended  to 
amuse  the  nobles  in  their  palaces,  those  which 
took  place  in  the  temples  as  acts  of  devotion,  or 
those  executed  in  houses  on  the  occasion  of  a  do- 
mestic/*?^—  there  was  but  a  small  number  of  part- 
ners. These  then  formed  two  parallel  lines,  and 
danced  side  by  side  or  face  to  face.  Sometimes 
the  two  lines  crossed,  or  one  of  the  best  dancers 
placed  himself  between  them  and  danced  alone. 

In  the  great  commemorative  ballets,  which  were 
performed  either  in  the  market-places  or  on  the 
lower  step  of  the  temple,  several  hundred  people 


DANCES. 


;c>7 


took  part.  The  musicians  stood  in  the  centre, 
and  the  nobles,  placing  themselves  near  them, 
formed  several  concentric  circles,  which  began  to 
move  round  and  round.  Every  dancer,  while  ex- 
ecuting his  steps  had  to  keep  his  own  circle.  The 
outer  circle,  having  more  space  to  move  about  in 
than  the  others,  was  more  animated.  A  little 
way  from  those  of  the  nobles  the  plebeians  formed 
their  circles,  and  still  others  were  composed  of 
the  young  people. 

The  dances  were  almost  always  accompanied 
by  songs ;  these  were  at  first  slow,  but  when  the 
musicians  and  the  dancers  became  animated,  the 
song  became  quicker  to  keep  time  with  the  meas- 
ure. Generally  one  of  the  dancers  intoned  a 
verse,  and  the  rest  took  it  up.  Between  the  lines 
of  the  circles  buffoons  tasked  their  wits  to  amuse 
the  crowd  with  grotesque  steps.  When  one  circle 
was  tired  out  another  was  immediately  formed  to 
replace  it. 

Such  was  the  arrangement  observed  in  the 
ordinary  ballets;  but  in  other  dances  there  was  a 
semblance  of  dramatic  art,  for  they  represented  an 
episode  in  the  life  of  the  gods,  an  heroic  action, 
scenes  of  war  or  of  the  chase. 

Not  only  did  the  priests,  the  nobles,  and  the 
pupils  of  both  sexes  of  the  seminaries  take  part 
in  the  dance,  but  the  king  himself  indulged  in 
this  amusement  during  religious  ceremonies,  or 
as  a  recreation.  However,  he  always  danced 
alone,  out  of  respect  for  his  dignity. 


308  THE   AZTECS. 

Historians  have  described  for  us  a  singular 
dance,  which  was  held  in  great  favor  in  Yuca- 
tan. A  pole  was  erected  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
high,  to  the  top  of  which  were  attached  a  number 
of  very  long  cords  of  various  colors.  Each  dancer 
took  hold  of  one  of  the  cords,  then  to  the  sound 
of  music  they  crossed  in  and  out,  and  gradually 
formed  a  symmetrical  figure  around  the  pole. 
When  the  cords  became  too  short  they  undid 
the  figure  by  reversing  their  steps. 

Among  the  descendants  of  the  Aztecs  the 
dance  is  but  little  in  vogue.  However,  in  villages 
far  removed  from  cities,  it  is  not  rare  to  see  an 
Indian  rise  suddenly  during  the  celebration  of  the 
mass,  and  begin  to  dance.  The  gravity  with 
which  he  performs  this  action,  and  the  sobriety 
of  his  steps  atone,  to  a  certain  extent,  for  what- 
ever unseemliness  this  fancy  may  have,  consider- 
ing: that  our  views  have  robbed  the  dance  of  its 
ancient  sacred  character. 

The  theatre  and  the  dance  did  not  constitute 
the  only  amusements  of  the  Mexicans.  They  had 
instituted  public  games  to  enliven  certain  solem- 
nities; they  also  had  private  sports.  In  the  first 
class  must  be  placed  the  foot-races  and  the  sham 
battles.  These  sports  were  useful,  for  besides  the 
pleasure  which  they  afforded  the  crowd,  they 
gave  the  soldiers  a  chance  to  exercise  their  agility, 
and  to  inure  themselves  to  the  dangers  they  would 
have  to  face. 

A  pastime  less  useful  but  more  celebrated  was 


SPORTS. 


309 


the  sport  called  by  the  Spaniards  "  volador,"  which 
means  "  a  flyer."  For  this  sport  a  very  tall, 
strong,  and  straight  tree  was  procured,  and  having 
been  stripped  of  its  bark  was  planted  in  the  middle 
of  a  square.  On  its  top  a  cylinder  of  wood  was 
placed,  from  which  hung  four  ropes,  intended  to 
hold  up  a  square  wooden  frame.  Between  the 
cylinder  and  the  frame  four  other  ropes  were  at- 
tached, which  were  wound  around  the  pole  as 
many  times  as  the  flyers  had,  according  to  rule, 
to  encircle  it;  they  were  then  passed  through 
holes  made  in  the  corners  of  the  frame.  In- 
dians, dressed  to  represent  eagles  or  other  birds, 
climbed  agilely  to  the  cylinder.  After  dancing 
on  its  small  platform  to  amuse  the  crowd,  they 
took  hold  of  the  ropes,  then  spreading  their 
wings  they  threw  themselves  into  space.  This 
impulse  made  the  cylinder  and  the  frame  revolve 
together.  The  former  in  its  motion  unrolled  the 
ropes  to  which  the  flyers  were  attached,  and 
made  them  describe  a  larger  curve  at  each  revolu- 
tion. During  this  descent  an  Indian,  standing  on 
the  moving  cylinder,  waved  a  banner  or  beat  a 
drum,  undisturbed  by  his  dangerous  position.  At 
the  same  time  other  Indians  danced  on  the  frame, 
and  when  the  flyers  were  about  to  touch  the 
ground,  these  bold  acrobats  slid  down  the  ropes 
which  held  them,  in  such  a  way  as  to  reach  the 
ground  at  the  same  time  with  them.  In  their 
descent  these  men  often  daringly  passed  from  one 
rope  to  another. 


310  THE   AZTECS. 

One  of  the  important  points  of  this  sport  con- 
sisted in  exactly  proportioning  the  length  of  the 
ropes  to  the  height  of  the  pole,  in  order  that 
the  flyers  might  touch  the  ground  at  the  thir- 
teenth turn,  a  number  which  represented  quarter 
of  the  Aztec  cycle.  This  dangerous  pastime,  pro- 
hibited by  the  Spaniards,  is  nevertheless  one  of 
the  favorite  amusements  of  the  modern  Aztecs ; 
but  the  religious  ideas  that  formerly  dictated  it 
are  now  forgotten. 

Among  their  sports,  the  game  of  ball  must  be 
given  a  high  place.  According  to  Torquemada, 
the  place  where  this  diversion  was  indulged  in 
was  an  immense  quadrilateral,  enclosed  by  walls 
thicker  at  their  base  than  at  their  top,  and  lower 
at  the  ends  of  the  field  than  at  its  sides.  These 
walls,  which  were  whitewashed,  were  smooth,  and 
were  crowned  with  battlements.  Two  idols,  prob- 
ably those  of  Omecatl,  god  of  mirth,  were  brought 
at  night  and  placed  at  the  foot  of  certain  small 
walls,  with  superstitious  ceremonies. 

The  ball  used  was  made  of  rubber,  and  had 
great  elasticity.  The  contestants  were  divided 
into  sides,  each  of  which  numbered  two  or  three 
players ;  they  removed  all  their  clothes  but  their 
girdles.  The  rules  of  the  game  required  that  the 
ball,  thrown  from  one  end  of  the  field,  should 
strike  the  wall  at  the  other,  either  at  one  throw 
or  by  bounding.  But  the  players  were  allowed  to 
touch  it  only  with  the  wrist,  the  knee,  or  the 
elbow,  under  penalty  of  losing  a  point. 


SPORTS. 


311 


At  this  sport  the  people  wagered  ears  of  corn, 
clothes,  and  sometimes  even  their  liberty;  the 
wealthy,  jewels  of  gold,  silver,  or  feathers.  In  the 
middle  of  the  enclosure  stood  two  stones,  like  our 
mill-stones,  with  a  hole  in  the  centre  a  little 
larger  than  the  ball.  The  player  whose  ball  went 
through  one  of  these  holes  —  a  rare  feat — won 
not  only  the  game,  but  the  clothing  of  all  the  peo- 
ple present.  This  was  also  regarded  as  a  brilliant 
action. 

We  can  judge  how  popular  this  sport  must 
have  been  among  the  peoples  of  Anahuac,  by 
the  tribute  of  balls  which  the  cities  paid  the 
king.  Tochtepec  and  Otatitlan  sent  as  many 
as  sixteen  thousand  to  the  royal  treasury.  At 
the  present  time  the  Indians  are  ignorant  even 
of  the  name  of  this  game  which  delighted  their 
ancestors. 

Another  game,  called  "  patolli,"  consisted  in 
drawing  upon  a  fine  mat  made  of  palm-leaves,  a 
square  crossed  by  two  diagonal  and  two  trans- 
verse lines.  Large  beans  marked  with  points 
were  thrown  as  dice,  and  according  to  the  num- 
ber thrown,  the  players  removed  small  stones 
placed  in  the  angles  formed  by  the  lines,  or  placed 
others  in  them.  The  person  who  first  placed  the 
stones  in  three  rows   won  the  game. 

Bernal  Diaz  mentions  a  game  with  which 
Moteuczoma,  during  his  captivity,  amused  him- 
self in  company  with  Cortez.  This  pastime, 
which    according    to  him    was  called    "  toloque," 


312 


THE    AZTECS. 


consisted  in  throwing  small  golden  balls  at  a 
plate  of  the  same  metal,  used  as  a  target.  The 
person  who  hit  the  plate  of  gold  five  times  won 
a  jewel. 

Among  the  Aztecs  there  were  acrobats  of 
extraordinary  agility.  For  example,  one  of  them 
lay  on  the  ground,  and  raising  his  legs,  held  a 
beam  balancing  on  his  feet,  then  made  it  dance, 
and  turn  rapidly,  without  letting  it  fall.  Some- 
times two  men  placed  themselves  astride  the 
ends  of  this  beam,  and  followed  its  evolutions. 
Others  rested  a  pole  on  their  shoulder,  and  one 
of  their  companions,  climbing  to  its  top,  balanced 
himself  there. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Ideographic  Paintings.  —  Paper. —  Colors. —  Signs.  —  Nu- 
meration. —  Sculpture.  —  The  Goldsmith's  Art.  — 
Feather  Mosaics. —  Architecture.—  Conclusion. 

THE  Aztecs,  much  like  the  Egyptians,  had 
painters,  designers,  and  sculptors  for  histo- 
rians, for  they  knew  no  writing  but  ideographic 
pictures.  The  Mayas  were  the  first  people  in 
the  New  World  who  thought  of  preserving  the 
memory  of  past  facts,  by  recording  them  with  pict- 
ures. This  art,  gradually  perfected,  came  into 
general  use  among  all  the  nations  of  Anahuac. 

The  most  ancient  Mexican  paintings  are  little 
more  than  portraits  of  gods,  of  kings,  of  cele- 
brated men,  and  reproductions  of  animals  and 
plants.  Afterwards  these  pictures  represented 
memorable  scenes  or  events. 

Among  these  pictures  there  were  some  mytho- 
logical paintings,  —  that  is,  consecrated  to  the 
mysteries  of  religion  ;  and  some  of  an  historical 
character,  recording  past  facts.  Others  were 
codes  which  contained  civil  laws  or  religious  rites. 
Others  were  of  a  chronological,  an  astronomic, 
or  an  astrologic  nature,  showing  the  position  of 
the  stars,  the  phases  of  the  moon,  and  eclipses. 


314  THE   AZTECS. 

Father  Acosta  relates  that  in  the  province  of 
Yucatan,  there  were  collections  of  pictures  by 
the  aid  of  which  the  Indians  learned  to  recognize 
the  planets,  the  division  of  time,  the  forms  of 
animals  and  of  plants,  and  even  the  antiquities  of 
their  country.  These  precious  documents,  like 
thousands  of  others,  were  burned  by  a  too  zealous 
priest,  who  saw  in  them  only  sources  of  error 
and  of  superstitions. 

There  were  also  topographical  paintings,  which 
served  not  only,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  to  de- 
termine the  boundaries  of  property,  but  to  show 
the  position  of  cities,  the  outline  of  the  coasts, 
and  the  course  of  rivers.  Cortez  states,  in  his  first 
letter  to  Charles  V.,  that,  when  he  wished  to  learn 
if  there  was  a  place  of  safety  for  his  vessels  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  Moteuczoma  gave  him  a  map  in 
which  the  entire  coast,  from  the  port  of  Chal- 
chiuhuecan,  now  called  Vera  Cruz,  as  far  as  the 
Goatzacoalco  river,  was  indicated.  Bernal  Diaz 
states  that  Cortez,  during  his  long  and  difficult 
journey  in  the  province  of  Honduras,  used  a  map 
which  the  lords  of  Goatzacoalco  presented  him, 
—  a  map  which  showed  all  the  villages  and  small 
streams  of  the  coast. 

There  were  many  painters  in  the  Mexican 
empire,  and  paintings  innumerable.  If  these 
documents  had  been  collected  and  preserved,  we 
should  know  the  history  of  the  peoples  of  Ana- 
huac  in  detail.  Unfortunately,  the  first  missiona- 
ries, animated  by  a  false  zeal,  took  great  care  to 


IDEOGRAPHIC  PAINTINGS.  315 

secure  these  manuscripts  to  destroy  them.  All 
those  they  could  lay  their  hands  on  in  Tezcoco, 
where  the  principal  school  of  painting  was  situ- 
ated, were  piled  up  in  the  market-place  and 
burned.  The  Aztec  annals  were  thus  reduced 
to  ashes,  and  with  them  perished  the  memory  of 
important  facts. 

Later,  appreciating  better  the  importance  of 
these  documents,  the  missionaries  deplored  what 
they  had  done,  and  endeavored  to  repair  the  evil 
by  collecting  the  pictures  which  had  escaped  their 
search  ;  but,  although  they  were  able  to  procure 
a  certain  number,  the  now  mistrustful  Indians 
carefully  hid  them.  Nevertheless,  some  still  ex- 
ist ;  they  are,  however,  very  difficult  of  access  to 
scholars  who  want  to  study  them.  Aubin  and 
Pinart,  fortunately  for  science,  have  been  able  to 
collect  quite  a  number  of  them. 

Generally,  the  paintings  were  executed  on 
paper,  on  parchment  made  of  deer-skins,  or  on 
fine  cloths.  Paper  was  obtained  from  various  sub- 
stances, but  the  most  highly  appreciated  was 
made  of  agave-leaves,  which  were  soaked  for  a 
long  time  and  afterwards  washed  in  a  large  quan- 
tity of  water  and  polished.  Paper  was  also  made 
—  but  of  an  inferior  quality  —  from  palm-leaves, 
fine  bark  coated  with  gum,  and  lastly,  from  cot- 
ton. That  called  "  cuauhamacatl  "  ("  wood-paper") 
came  from  the  "  anacahuite,"  a  tree  of  the  borago 
family.  Unfortunately,  we  do  not  now  know  to 
what  processes  the  Aztecs  had  recourse,  although 


316  THE   AZTECS. 

this  industry  was  still  in  full  activity  a  long  time 
after  the  conquest,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  celebrated  Hernandez  speaks  of  the  manu- 
factories of  the  city  of  Tepextlan.  The  best 
Aztec  paper  was  very  much  like  our  pasteboard, 
but  much  more  pliant  and  much  smoother ;  it 
was  of  a  grayish-white,  and  sometimes  brown 
color  ;  it  would  not  absorb  ink.  It  was  cut  into 
leaves  three  feet  wide  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
long,  which  were  rolled  up  like  ancient  papyrus, 
or  folded  like  the  leaves  of  screens. 

The  beautiful  colors  which  the  Aztec  painters 
used  were  generally  obtained  from  woods,  leaves, 
and  the  flowers  of  plants,  but  sometimes  from  the 
mineral  kingdom.  For  white  they  used  either 
the  stone  called  "  chimaltizatl,"  which,  when  cal- 
cined, gave  a  product  like  fine  plaster,  or  an  earth 
very  much  like  Spanish-white.  An  offensive 
earth,  and  the  smoke  of  an  aromatic  pine  sup- 
plied them  with  black.  Sky-blue  they  obtained 
from  the  indigo-plant  {indigofera  anil) ;  but 
their  method  of  obtaining  this  color  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  use  to-day.  They  threw  the 
leaves,  one  by  one,  into  a  vase  filled  with  luke- 
warm water,  then  having  stirred  the  liquid  a  long 
time,  they  let  it  rest.  They  afterward  carefully 
emptied  the  water  from  the  vase,  dried  the  de- 
posit obtained  in  the  sun,  and  then  heated  it  to 
harden  it. 

To  obtain  red  they  boiled  the  seeds  of  the 
annatto  (bixia  orellana);  and  cochineal  gave  them 


COLORS.  3  i  7 

scarlet.  They  obtained  yellow  from  the  stalks  of 
a  plant  of  the  genus  cuscuta,  or  they  used  yellow 
ochre.  They  used  alum  to  fix  their  colors ;  and 
to  give  them  more  consistency  they  mixed  them 
with  the  sticky  juice  of  a  species  of  wormwood 
called  "  xochipalli,"  or  with  oil  obtained  from  the 
mucilaginous  seeds  .of  a  kind  of  sage,  —  salvia 
chia. 

The  representations  of  mountains,  buildings, 
rivers,  plants,  animals,  and  especially  of  men,  in 
Aztec  paintings,  are  generally  wanting  in  pro- 
portion. The  outlines  are  angular  and  stiff,  and 
the  eyes  are  always  drawn  as  if  the  man  or  ani- 
mal represented  was  looked  at  full  in  the  face, 
even  when  the  painting  is  a  profile.  These  de- 
fects must  not  be  imputed  entirely  to  ignorance 
or  want  of  skill  on  the  part  of  the  artists,  but  in  a 
measure  to  the  rapidity  with  which  they  painted, — 
a  rapidity  which  greatly  surprised  the  Spaniards. 
The  Mexican  painters  at  first  thought  only  of 
representing  objects,  and  contented  themselves 
even  with  drawing  them  in  silhouette,  caring 
nothing  for  perfection  of  the  lines.  They  were 
certainly  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  light  'and  shade  ; 
some  of  their  works,  however,  are  as  remarkable 
for  the  nature  of  their  design  as  for  the  brilliancy 
of  their  coloring. 

They  used  not  only  images  of  objects  in  their 
ideographic  paintings,  but  also  hieroglyphics  and 
signs  equivalent  to  letters.  At  first  they  designed 
material  things,  such  as  presented  themselves  to 


3'8 


THE    AZTECS. 


their  eyes,  then  gradually,  to  economize  time,  they 
drew  only  a  part  of  the  object,  —  enough  for  the 
initiated  to  recognize.  For,  just  as  we  do  not 
understand  writing  until  we  have  learned  to  read, 
the  Aztecs,  to  interpret  the  paintings,  —  which 
were  nothing  but  a  written  language,  —  had  to 
be  first  instructed  in  the  art  of  drawing. 


cVl!/       oLlc^t> 


Day.  Night.        Midnight.    The  Year.  The  Century. 

Vfc>  . 


O     o      o     o    o     o     o 


WMSMMM 


The  Sky. 


Water.  The  Earth. 


Air.  The  Coi'illi. 

Fig.  17.  —  Hieroglyphics. 


Tenochtitlan. 


To  represent  immaterial  things,  the  imitation 
of  which  would  have  been  difficult,  the  painters 
used  conventional  signs.  In  order  that  the  mech- 
anism of  this  ideographic  writing  may  be  better 
understood,  we  give  in  figure  17  some  characters 
taken  from  manuscripts  to  designate  the  year,  the 
day,  the  night,  the  elements ;  also  the  symbol  of 
royal  authority,  the  "  copilli,"  and  that  of  Tenoch- 
titlan,—  a  stone  and  a  cactus. 


NUMERATION. 


319 


For  figures,  one  of  the  numerical  signs  was  the 
dot  (.)  ,  which  marked  the  units,  and  which  was 
repeated  either  up  to  20  or  up  to  the  figure  10, 
represented  by  a  lozenge.  The  number  20  was 
represented  by  a  flag,  which,  repeated  five  times, 
gave  the  number  100,  which  was  marked  by 
drawing  quarter  of  the  barbs  of  a  feather.  Half 
of  the  barbs  was  equivalent  to  200,  three  fourths 
to  300,  the  entire  feather  to  400.  Four  hundred 
multiplied  by  the  figure  20  gave  8,000,  which  had 
a  purse  (fig.  18)  for  its  symbol.  From  sign  to 
sign,  always  multiplied,  one  by  another,  hundreds 
of  millions  were  reached. 


0 

A 

n 

1 

J 

1 

1 

^ 

• 

• 
• 

• 

0 

Pi 

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i 

1' 

m 

Units. 

10.          I 

!0.              100.        200.              300. 

400. 

SCOO. 

Fig 

.  18.  —  Tv 

fUMER.4 

TION. 

We  know  nothing  concerning  the  processes 
employed  by  the  Aztecs  in  the  reform  of  their 
calendar.  Although  their  paintings  show  that 
they  knew  the  cause  of  eclipses,  and  that  the 
position  of  certain  constellations  determined  the 
date  of  their  feasts,  they  teach  us  nothing  con- 
cerning their  process  of  computation. 

To  represent  a  special  person,  the  painter  drew 
a  man,  or  more  simply,  a  head,  and  placed  above 
it  a  sign  representing  the  name  of  the  man  he 
wished  to  designate.  We  have  seen  sonic  ex- 
amples  in  the  chronology  of  the  kings,  and  we 


320  THE    AZTECS. 

give  here,  according  to  the  manuscripts,  the  kings 
Itzacoatl,  Huitzilihuitl,  and  one  of  the  forms 
given  to  Ahuitzotl  (see  fig.  14).  When  it  was 
necessary  to  designate  a  province,  a  river,  a  moun- 
tain, or  a  city,  the  same  artifice  was  employed. 

The  historic  pictures  of  the  Aztecs  had  differ- 
ent names.  When  they  illustrated  an  isolated 
fact,  or  a  longer  or  shorter  period  in  the  life  of  a 
sovereign  or  of  a  nation,  they  were  called  "  tla- 
cuiloli  "  or  "  tlacuiloliztli."  When  chronological 
they  were  called  "  cexiutlacuiloli."  The  Codex  of 
Mendoza  belongs  to  this  class. 

In"  the  cexiutlacuiloli  the  date  of  the  year  was 
placed  on  the  margin  of  the  paper,  and  after  it 
was  traced  the  event  the  memory  of  which  was  to 
be  preserved.  There  was  no  absolute  rule  for  the 
order  of  the  pictures  ;  the  artist  could  begin  at  any 
corner  of  the  paper  he  chose.  However,  an  order 
having  been  adopted  he  could  not  depart  from  it. 

There  was  the  same  liberty  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  signs.  In  some  manuscripts  the  figures 
are  placed  in  groups,  in  others  in  vertical  lines, 
which  must  be  read  from  top  to  bottom  ;  in  still 
others  in  horizontal  lines.  Generally,  the  heads 
face  in  the  direction  in  which  the  manuscripts 
must  be  read.  When  they  are  turned  towards 
each  other  it  is  intended  to  show  that  they  are 
concerned  in  a  common  action. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  such  a  writing  is 
imperfect  and  confused,  and  that  it  often  leads 
to  ambiguity.      Nevertheless,   it    is   certainly  in- 


IDEOGRAPHIC   PAINTINGS.  32  I 

genious,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Aztec  nation  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  its  past  history  are  worthy 
of  interest.  It  took  the  place  of  a  knowledge  of 
letters,  which,  considering  the  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, it  would,  doubtless,  have  acquired,  if  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  empire  had  not  been  suddenly 
terminated. 

The  Mexican  paintings  should  be  considered 
only  as  documents  intended  to  help  tradition. 
The  past  facts  of  their  national  history  occupied 
the  Aztecs  so  much  that  the  professors  of  the 
seminaries  and  fathers  of  families  ceaselessly 
talked  to  the  young  concerning  them.  They 
made  the  children  learn  by  heart  the  speeches 
which  the  pictures  could  not  record,  and  sing 
poems  which  celebrated  the  glory  of  their  ances- 
tors. These  studies  cleared  away  doubts,  pre- 
vented the  ambiguity  which  might  spring  from 
the  reading  of  the  pictures,  and  perpetuated  the 
great  deeds  and  the  examples  of  virtue  given  by 
the  heroes.  At  the  same  time  they  saved  from 
oblivion  the  history  of  the  gods,  the  religious 
rites,  the  laws,  and  ancient  customs. 

The  peoples  of  Anahuac,  in  their  infancy,  per- 
petuated the  memory  of  the  past  with  the  aid  of 
little  cords  dyed  various  colors,  and  knotted  in 
different  ways.  This  singular  mnemonic  resort, 
which  is  preserved  in  Peru,  and  which  is  there 
called  "quipos," —  which  we  ourselves  use,  knot- 
ting our  handkerchiefs,  —  was  abandoned  at    an 

early  date  by  the  Mexicans,  and  scarcely  any  trai  es 

21 


322  THE   AZTECS. 

of  it  are  found  at  the  present  time.  Boturini  states 
that  after  the  most  careful  search  he  could  find 
but  one  of  these  strings,  greatly  damaged  by  time, 
in  the  village  of  Tlaxcala. 

As  soon  as  the  Indians  had  learned  the  use  of 
letters  from  the  Spaniards,  some  of  their  number 
wrote  histories  of  their  country,  either  in  their  own 
language  or  in  that  of  their  conquerors.  Many 
of  these  writings  have  been  preserved  in  the 
libraries  of  Mexico,  and  those  of  Ixtlixochitl  and 
Tezozomoc  have  been  published  in  part. 

The  Aztecs  were  certainly  more  skilful  in 
sculpture,  in  the  art  of  working  metals,  and  in  the 
composition  of  mosaics  of  feathers  than  in  paint- 
ing; and  they  succeeded  better  in  representing 
the  features  of  heroes  or  the  products  of  nature 
with  wood,  stone,  gold,  or  silver  than  with  the 
brush.  The  difficulties  inherent  in  these  labors 
probably  incited  them  to  greater  application,  or 
possibly  the  national  taste  stimulated  their  indus- 
trial genius  in  this  direction. 

Sculpture  was  known  and  practised  by  the  Tol- 
tecs.  Stone  statues,  works  of  the  artists  of  this 
nation,  —  among  others  those  of  Tlaloc  and  those 
which  adorned  the  two  celebrated  temples  of  Teo- 
tihuacan, —  were  preserved  until  the  arrival  of 
the  Spaniards.  The  Aztecs  had  sculptors  when 
they  left  their  primitive  fatherland,  for  we  know 
that  they  carried  with  them  a  statue  of  Huitzili- 
pochtli.  But  in  this  art  they  always  remained 
inferior  to  their  masters,  the  Toltecs. 


SCULPTORS. 


323 


The  Mexican  sculptors  worked  generally  in 
stone  or  wood;  sometimes,  however,  they  used 
granite,  jasper,  and  agate.  Owing  to  their  igno- 
rance of  iron,  and  consequently  of  steel,  they  were 
compelled  to  use  implements  made  of  hard  stone ; 
and  they  accomplished  their  work  by  wearing 
rather  than  by  cutting.  They  needed  all  the  con- 
stancy and  patience  under  difficulties  character- 
istic of  the  race  to  surmount  the  obstacles  they 
met  with,  and  not  to  grow  enervated  by  the 
tedious  processes  they  were  compelled  to  prac- 
tise. Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  imperfection 
of  the  means,  they  produced  remarkable  works, 
and  succeeded  in  giving  their  statues  all  the 
positions  which  the  human  body  can  assume. 

They  knew  how  to  execute  bas-reliefs  and 
statues  in  clay,  and  to  carve  wood.  The  number 
of  statues  which  exist  in  the  empire  can  be  esti- 
mated from  that  of  the  idols.  But  here  again  we 
must  bewail  the  zeal  of  the  missionaries  who 
broke  many  of  these  works,  regarded  by  them  as 
images  of  the  devil.  The  foundation  of  the  first 
church  which  the  Spaniards  built  in  Mexico  was 
composed,  it  is  said,  of  fragments  of  statues ;  and 
the  priests  carried  on  such  a  conscientious  war 
against  these  images  that  it  is  difficult  to  find  one 
of  them  to-day. 

A  few  years  after  the  conquest  of  their  country, 
the  Aztec  sculptors,  finding  no  more  employment 
in  their  art,  busied  themselves  in  carving,  from 
bones     or    wood,    ornaments    for    the    altars    of 


324 


THE    AZTECS. 


churches,  which  everywhere  took  the  place  of 
temples.  They  succeeded  admirably,  and  their 
works  of  this  sort  were  soon  preferred  by  the 
missionaries  to  those  which  came  from  Europe. 
They  also  began  to  make,  with  the  aid  of  pieces 
of  bamboo,  crucifixes  of  natural  size,  the  sorrowful 
expression  of  which  was  well  rendered.  It  cer- 
tainly was  not  from  the  Spaniards  that  these 
artists  had  learned  their  trade.  Knowing  how  to 
carve,  they  utilized  their  skill,  of  which  we  here 
have  a  proof,  by  representing  the  God  whose  wor- 
ship they  were  learning.  They  were  in  the 
habit  of  copying,  but  their  taste  guided  them  so 
surely  that  their  works,  noticed  and  sought  after, 
deserved  the  honor  of  being  sent  to  Spain. 

Above  the  art  of  sculpture  the  Aztecs  placed 
that  of  working  the  metals,  especially  gold  and 
silver,  which  they  collected  from  the  beds  of 
rivers,  but  which  they  also  obtained  from  the 
ground.  We  might  regard  the  number  of  the 
works  which  they  executed  with  these  materials 
.as  exaggerated,  if,  besides  the  affirmations  of  eye- 
witnesses, who  agree  in  their  judgments,  many  of 
these  jewels  had  not  been  sent  to  Europe.  Those 
which  Cortez  sent  to  Charles  V.  were  greatly 
appreciated  by  the  goldsmiths  of  Seville,  who 
confessed  their  inability  to  imitate  them.  The 
Mexican  artists  reproduced  all  the  objects  of 
nature  in  rare  perfection.  They  moulded,  at  a 
single  casting,  fishes  whose  scales  were  alternately 
of  gold  and  of   silver.     Among   their  works  are 


JEWELLERS.  305 

mentioned  a  parrot  shaking  his  head,  his  tongue, 
and  his  wings,  and  a  monkey  likewise  articulated, 
armed  with  a  spindle  and  spinning.  They  set 
precious  stones  with  wonderful  skill ;  and  the 
soldiers  of  Cortez,  so  fond  of  gold,  sometimes 
preferred  their  work  to  the  precious  metal.  This 
art,  which  came  from  the  Toltecs,  who  attribute 
its  invention  to  Ouetzacoatl,  is  entirely  lost,  as 
well  as  its  productions,  a  specimen  of  which 
would  be  looked  for  in  vain  in  the  New  World. 
From  time  to  time  the  Indians,  it  is  true,  discover 
ancient  jewels,  —  generally,  however,  of  coarse 
workmanship.  Unfortunately,  either  from  super- 
stition or  from  fear  of  being  despoiled,  they  break 
them  immediately. 

The  Aztecs  used  the  hammer  in  working 
metals,  but  very  unskilfully.  Next  to  gold  and 
silver,  the  metal  they  employed  most  profitably 
was  copper,  alloyed  with  tin,  and  the  Spaniards 
boasted  of  their  shields  and  pikes.  The  silver- 
smiths of  Mexico  formed  a  large  body  ;  we  have 
seen  that  they  feasted  the  god  Xipe,  and  consid- 
ered him  as  their  protector. 

As  a  proof  of  the  skill  of  the  Aztec  goldsmiths, 
whose  old  works  had  already  become  rare  in  his 
time — 1606  —  Torquemada  relates  that  having 
need  of  some  gold  buttons  for  a  dalmatica, 
they  endeavored  to  find  a  workman  among  the 
Spaniards  in  Mexico  capable  of  making  them. 
An  Aztec  offered  himself,  and  working  the  gold 
in  the  manner  followed  by  his  ancestors,  he  gave 


326  THE    AZTECS. 

the  buttons  the  shape  of  small  gourds,  so  perfectly 
imitated  that  his  work  caused  a  sensation. 

The  Aztec  art,  par  excellence,  was  that  of  mak- 
ing mosaics  with  the  aid  of  fine  feathers  of 
birds.  For  this  work  there  were  not  only  in  the 
palaces  of  the  king,  but  also  in  almost  all  the 
houses,  aviaries  filled  with  richly  colored  birds. 
that  were  plucked  once  a  year.  The  raw  mate- 
rial for  these  mosaics  was  taken  from  the  numer- 
ous Irochilns  family  (humming-birds),  —  as  much 
on  account  of  the  fineness  of  their  feathers  as  on 
account  of  their  varied  shades.  A  mosaic  was 
almost  always  the  work  of  several  workmen. 
Having  decided  upon  the  design,  each  of  them 
began  to  work,  and  often  an  entire  day  was  ne- 
cessary for  them  to  match  and  place  a  single  feath- 
er. No  imperfection  in  this  work  was  tolerated  ; 
consequently  it  had  to  be  altered  ceaselessly.  The 
workmen  never  touched  the  feathers,  except  with 
the  aid  of  a  soft  substance,  for  fear  of  rumpling 
them  ;  they  fixed  them  on  the  linen  by  moisten- 
ing them  with  the  sticky  juice  of  a  plant.  The 
work  ended,  it  was  polished  with  great  care ;  and 
its  smooth  surface  caused  it  to  be  often  taken 
for  a  painting,  —  a  mistake  which  the  Spaniards 
made  more  than  once. 

This  delicate  art,  which  excited  the  wonder  of 
Cortez,  Diaz,  Gomara,  and  Torquemada,  is  now 
completely  forgotten.  Of  the  specimens  in  the 
museums  none  are  anterior  to  the  sixteenth 
century. 


FLORAL  DFXORATIONS.  327 

The  Indians,  however,  have  not  lost  the  art  of 
making  garlands  of  flowers  and  fruits,  by  arrang- 
ing their  colors  in  such  a  manner  as  to  produce 
symmetrical  designs,  curious  in  their  originality, 
and  very  picturesque  in  their  effect.  In  the  vil- 
lage of  Tenejapa  I  once  saw  a  small  triumphal 
arch  made  of  flowers.  Nothing  could  be  more 
pleasing  than  this  ephemeral  monument.  It  was 
composed  of  rosettes,  lozenges,  torsels,  fantastic 
figures,  designed,  with  the  aid  of  the  most  brilliant 
wreaths,  by  an  Indian  artist  free  to  follow  his 
fancy.  It  needs  the  wealth  of  the  tropic  flora  to 
produce  these  splendid  ornaments  of  a  day.  The 
painter,  —  he  deserved  the  name,  —  now  contrast- 
ins;  his  colors  and  now  ^ivin^  them  a  skilful  «ra- 
dation,  always  produced  harmonious  effects.  I  do 
not  know  which  I  admired  the  most,  the  de- 
signs, the  flowers,  or  the  art  with  which  they 
were  arranged.  As  if  to  render  the  sight  more 
charming,  swarms  of  butterflies  hastened  to 
light  on  the  brilliant  decoration,  flying  about, 
whirling  around  to  return  and  alight  on  it  again. 
At  times  it  seemed  as  if  the  breeze  would 
strip  the  wreaths  of  their  leaves  and  strew  the 
air  with  their  dazzling  petals.  The  Aztec, 
passionately  fond  of  flowers,  decorated  the  tem- 
ples of  his  gods  with  the  wreaths  with  which 
his  descendants  now  trim  the  churches.  It 
is  difficult  to  believe,  in  the  face  of  these  del- 
icate works,  that  they  are  the  productions  of 
hands   accustomed  to  use  the   pick,  and  that  so 


328  THE   AZTECS. 

much  taste  is  concealed  in  skulls  apparently  so 
thick. 

A  people  who  exercised  its  industry  in  works 
of  luxury  or  curiosity  could  not  neglect  those 
which  concerned  its  comfort.  Consequently  archi- 
tecture, one  of  the  arts  which  necessity  imposes 
on  man  as  soon  as  he  leaves  the  state  of  bar- 
barism, was  known  to  the  peoples  of  Anahuac 
from  the  time  of  the  Toltecs.  The  Chichimecs, 
the  Alcolhuas.  the  Tlaxcaltecs,  —  in  a  word,  all 
the  nations  who  occupied  the  provinces,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Otomites,  —  built  houses  at  an 
early  date ;  and  when  the  Aztecs  arrived  in 
Anahuac  they  found  it  covered  with  large  and 
beautiful  cities. 

They  themselves  knew  how  to  build,  and  were 
accustomed  to  social  life;  for  during  the  long  pere- 
grination which  led  them  to  the  shores  of  Lake 
Tezcoco,  they  erected  a  number  of  edifices  at  the 
places  where  they  stopped.  Nevertheless,  the 
monuments  which  are  found  on  the  banks  of 
the  Gila  river,  in  Pimeria,  and  near  Zacatccas, 
which  have  been  for  a  long  time  attributed  to 
the  Aztecs,  are  not  their  works.  These  remains, 
like  those  of  Mistec  and  of  Yucatan  are,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  work  of  more  ancient  peoples. 

During  the  wretched  years  which  they  passed 
on  the  islands  of  Lake  Tezcoco,  the  Aztecs  con- 
tented themselves  with  humble  cabins,  with  walls 
of  reeds  and  of  mud.  But  when,  owing  to  the 
products    of    their    fisheries,    they    were    able    to 


ARCHITECTURE.  329 

engage  in  commerce,  they  hastened  to  procure 
better  materials.  In  proportion  as  their  wealth 
increased,  they  attached  more  importance  to  their 
buildings,  up  to  the  time  of  the  appearance  of 
the  Spaniards,  who  found  much  to  admire,  but, 
alas,  much  also  to  destroy. 

The  walls  of  the  dwellings  of  the  poor  were 
made  of  bamboo  and  bricks  dried  in  the  sun, 
and  sometimes  of  stones  held  together  with  clay. 
To  cover  their  roofs  the  Aztecs  used  long  weeds 
or  agave-leaves  placed  one  upon  the  other,  like 
our  tiles.  One  of  the  principal  supports  of 
these  houses  was  often  a  tree  of  medium  height, 
which,  in  addition  to  the  shade  it  afforded,  les- 
sened the  cost  of  construction.  These  houses 
had  but  one  room,  in  which  was  the  fireplace, 
the  furniture,  the  utensils,  and  in  which  the 
family  and  domestic  animals  lived  together.  If 
the  proprietor  was  in  comfortable  circumstances, 
two  or  three  rooms,  an  oratory,  a  "  temascalli," 
and  a  granary  were  added  to  the  house. 

The  dwellings  of  the  nobles  and  of  the  wealthy 
people  were  built  of  stone.  They  had  two  sto- 
ries, with  the  rooms  well  arranged ;  and  the  roof, 
made  of  timber-work,  was  flat  and  served  for  a 
terrace.  The  walls,  whitened  and  carefully  pol- 
ished, shone  in  such  a  manner  that  the  first 
Spaniards  who  arrived  before  Mexico  believed 
they  were  of  silver.  The  foundation  of  thi 
houses  was  of  masonry ;  sometimes  they  were 
crowned  with  battlements  or  towers.     Generally 


330  THE   AZTECS. 

they  bad  a  garden,  and  a  pond  supplied  with 
running  water. 

The  principal  dwellings  of  Mexico  had  two 
entrances,  one  opening  on  the  street,  the  other 
on  the  canal.  These  openings  were  without  doors  ; 
the  Mexicans  regarded  themselves  as  sufficiently 
protected  against  thieves  by  the  severity  of  their 
laws.  But  to  escape  the  curiosity  of  passers-by 
they  covered  these  openings  with  curtains,  to 
which  they  suspended  an  object  which,  sounding 
when  they  were  raised,  announced  the  presence 
of  a  visitor.  When  necessity,  politeness,  or  the 
degree  of  kindred  did  not  make  it  necessary  to 
ask  the  person  to  come  in,  he  was  received  simply 
on  the  threshold.  It  was  not  permitted  to  enter  a 
house  without  the   consent  of  the  proprietor. 

The  Aztecs  were  familiar  with  the  use  of  the 
arch,  as  is  proved  by  their  paintings,  and  better 
still  by  their  baths,  and  the  ruins  of  the  palace 
of  Tezcoco.  They  ornamented  their  edifices 
with  cornices,  and  they  frequently  surrounded  their 
doors  with  arabesque  work.  On  the  facade  of 
some  of  the  palaces  we  see  a  crawling  serpent  in 
the  act  of  biting  its  tail,  after  having  surrounded 
all  the  windows  of  the  building  with  its  coils. 
The  walls  which  the  Mexican  masons  built  were 
straight  and  perpendicular,  but  we  do  not  know 
what  tools  and  what  methods  they  used.  It  is 
believed  that  in  their  important  constructions 
they  supplied  the  use  of  scaffolding  by  heap- 
ing up  earth  by  the  side  of  the  walls  they  were 


ARCHITECTURE. 


331 


building.  The  Mistecs  certainly  employed  this 
artifice ;  however,  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that 
it  was  used  by  the  Mexicans. 

The  columns,  with  which  they  sustained  their 
buildings  were  cylindrical,  or  square,  without 
bases  and  without  capitals.  They  always  cut 
them  from  a  single  block,  and  ornamented  them 
with  bas-reliefs.  In  Mexico,  owing;  to  the  soft 
character  of  the  ground,  piles  of  cedar  were  used 
as  foundations  for  their  edifices.  Generally  they 
borrowed  the  timbers  for  their  roofs  from  the 
same  family  of  trees,  and  the  columns  with  the 
aid  of  which  they  supported  them  were  of  stone 
in  the  ordinary  houses,  and  of  alabaster  or  marble 
in  the  palaces.  Until  the  reign  of  Ahuitzotl  they 
used  common  stones ;  but  having  discovered  near 
the  lake  quarries  of  a  hard,  porous,  light  sub- 
stance, easily  held  together  by  mortar,  they 
employed  it  exclusively.  This  stone,  called  "  tet- 
zontli"  (porous  amygdaloid),  is  still  used  by  the 
modern  Mexican  architects.  The  pavement  of 
the  temples  and  palaces  was  composed  of  large 
slabs  of  different  colored  marbles. 

Although  Aztec  architecture  may  not  have 
given  birth  to  wonders  such  as  placed  Europe 
in  the  first  rank,  the  Spaniards  certainly  were  so 
surprised  by  the  beauty  of  the  palaces  of  Mexico 
that  Cortez,  in  his  letters  to  Charles  V.,  does  not 
find  expressions  strong  enough  to  praise  them. 
"  The  kino:,  Moteuczoma,"  he  wrote,  "  owns  in 
Mexico  such  vast  and  wonderful  mansions  that  I 


332 


THE    AZTECS. 


cannot  give  a  better  idea  of  them  than  by  saying 
that  their  equals  are  not  found  in  Spain."  The 
anonymous  Conqueror  shows  the  same  admira- 
tion in  his  interesting  work,  as  well  as  Bernal 
Diaz  del  Castillo  in  his  history. 

The  Mexicans  built  many  aqueducts  for  the 
convenience  of  the  inhabitants  of  their  cities. 
Those  which  brought  the  waters  of  Chapultepec 
to  the  capital,  a  distance  of  two  miles,  were  of 
stone,  and  measured  five  feet  in  height  and  two 
feet  in  width.  The  water  was  brought  to  the 
gates  of  the  city,  and  from  there  was  taken  to 
supply  the  fountains  and  ponds.  There  were  two 
aqueducts,  but  only  one  was  used  at  a  time,  for 
they  were  frequently  cleaned  in  order  that  the 
water  might  always  reach  the  city  pure.  At 
Tecutzinco,  a  country  residence  of  the  kings  of 
Tezcoco,  the  aqueduct  which  carried  the  water  to 
the  palace  may  still  be  seen. 

The  double  aqueduct  of  Chapultepec  followed 
a  route  which,  like  the  causeways  built  over  the 
lake,  is  an  irrefutable  proof  of  the  industry  of  the 
Mexicans.  But  the  intelligence  and  knowledge 
of  their  architects  shines  most  brilliantly  in  the 
city  of  Mexico,  for  they  were  compelled  to  make 
the  land  on  which  they  were  to  build,  by  connect- 
ing many  islands.  Besides  this  task,  they  had 
to  build  dikes  and  walls  in  different  parts  of 
the  valley,  to  protect  the  city  from  the  inunda- 
tions which  threatened  to  destroy  the  city  every 
year. 


CONCLUSION.  3$$ 

Some  writers  claim  that  the  Aztecs  did  not 
know  the  use  of  lime ;  this  assertion  is  disproved 
by  their  paintings,  by  the  records,  still  existing,  of 
the  tributes  which  the  provinces  were  required  to 
pay,  and  better  still,  by  a  simple  glance  at  the 
edifices  they  built,  the  ruins  of  which  we  still 
admire. 

But  I  have  reached  the  end  of  my  task.  What 
I  have  related  in  regard  to  the  history,  the  re- 
ligion, the  government,  the  industries,  and  the 
customs  of  the  Aztecs,  is,  I  believe,  all  that  is 
known  in  regard  to  this  people  whom  Cortez  re- 
duced to  a  servitude  which,  morally,  still  exists. 
The  Creoles,  sons  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Aztecs, 
scorn  the  once  haughty  race  from  which  they 
have  in  part  descended.  The  Creoles  have  taken 
from  them  the  name  of  Mexicans,  leaving  them 
the  name  of  Indians,  which  they  use  as  a  term  of 
reproach.  And,  nevertheless,  of  the  ten  millions 
of  men  who  to-day  people  Mexico,  about  two 
thirds  belong  to  these  Nahuas,  whom  I  have  tried 
to  revive,  and  who  now  seem  to  be  awakening. 


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INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Aacatl,  52,  54. 

Acamapictli,  68,  181. 

Acapulco,  20. 

Achcautzin,  42. 

Acrobats,  312. 

Agave,  29,  260. 

Agriculture,  254. 

Ahuitzotl,  81,  181. 

Alaman,  Lucas,  278. 

Albarreda  Vieja,  77. 

Alcolhuacan,  227  ;  kings  of,  181, 
183;  laws  of,  236. 

Alcolhuas,  41,  43. 

Aloes,  29. 

Alphabet,  296. 

Alvarado,  Bay  of,  22. 

Amaquemecan,  king  of,  42. 

Ambassadors,  185. 

Amimitl,  134. 

Anahnac,  17,  60,  120. 

Animals,  27,  29;  domestic,  262; 
sacrifice  of,  166. 

Aqueducts,  332. 

Architecture,  32S. 

Arms,  241. 

A-my,  239. 

Atlexcas,  98. 

Atolli,  2S9. 

Atonathiu,  108. 

Aviaries,  93,  147. 

Axayacatl,  79,  181. 

Azcapozalco,  71. 

Aztec  empire,  fall  of,  101. 

Aztecs,  character  of,  48  ;  con- 
founded with  Indians,  103;  cos- 
tume of,  49;  descendants  of,  2S, 


333  ;  government  of,  68  ;  migra- 
tions of,  51  ;  personal  appearance 
of,  46. 

Aztlan,  51. 

Banquets,  200. 

Baptism,  197. 

Basket-makers,  284. 

Baths,  287. 

Birds,  27,  29,  264. 

Bleeding,  286. 

Boats,  272. 

Bridges,  272. 

Burial  caves,  210 ;  of  Chichimecs, 

209. 
Burial  ceremonies,  204 ;   of  kings, 

206;  of  Miztecs,  209;   sacrifices 

attending,  207. 
Burial  urns,  210. 


Cabinet-makers,  284. 
Cacao,  290  ;  used  as  money,  269. 
Calendar,  39,  61. 
Camaxtle-IIuitzilipochtli,  107. 
Canals,  70,  97. 
Canary  Isles,  292. 
Cannibalism,  163,  213. 
Carpenters,  2S4. 
Catcmaco,  Lake,  23. 
Tausiways,  73,  96. 
( lazadero,  264. 

( 'a/.iqucs,  1S8. 
Cemeteries,  208. 

Ccnteotl,    128;    order   consecrated 
to,  129. 


22 


33& 


INDEX. 


Chalcas,  43. 

Chalchiutlicue,  106,  126,  197. 
Chalco,  Lake  of,  23. 
Chapalla,  Lake,  23,  51. 
Chapultepec,  42,  55;  aqueduct  of, 

332- 

Chatinos,  45. 

Chiapan  River,  23. 

Chiapas,  Province  of,  34. 

Chichen-Itza,  36. 

Chichimec-Otomites,  origin  of,  107. 

Chichimecs,  41,  60 ;  burial  cere- 
monies of,  209. 

Chicla,  291. 

Chihuahua,  20. 

Chimalpa  River,  23. 

Chinampas,  59,  69,  254. 

Chinantecs,  45,  245. 

Chocolatl,  290. 

Cholula,  pottery  of,  283;  Republic 
of,  31  ;  sanctuary  of,  41. 

Cholulans,  122. 

Chuchones,  45. 

Cihuacoatl,  87,  136,  226. 

Cihuacohuatl,  116. 

Cipactli,  106. 

Cipactonatl,  105. 

Circumcision,  200. 

Citlatepetl,  21. 

Citlaticue,  116. 

Citlatonac,  116. 

Citli,  117. 

Cloth,  294. 

Clothing,  292. 

Coasts,  26,  226. 

Coatepec,  130. 

Coatlantona,  135. 

Coatlicue,  130,  135. 

Cochineal,  262,  316. 

Codex  Mcndoza,  66,  320. 

Cold  Lands,  19. 

Colhuacan,  Kingdom  of,  31,  96. 

Colhuas,  38,  43,  55. 

Colleges,  145. 

Colors,  316. 

Columbus,  46,  291. 

Commerce,  266. 

Concpjcred  provinces,  191. 

Conspirators,  punishment  of,  229. 


Copilli,  70,  183. 

Copper  implements,  256. 

Cordilleras,  18,  20,  210. 

Cordova,  19. 

Coronation,  1S3. 

Corporal  punishments,  225. 

Cortez,   Hernando,   17,  22,  44,  83, 

99,  252,  286. 
Cosmogony,  10S. 
Councils,  royal,  185. 
Counsels,  maternal,  215  ;  paternal, 

219. 
Couriers,  187,  227. 
Courtesans,  231. 
Court  officials,  185. 
Courts  of  Justice,  226. 
Coxcox,  112. 
Coyolnauhqui,  131. 
Cremation,  205. 

Crown,  70, 183 ;  property  of  the,  190. 
Cuauhquichollan,  251. 
Cuauhtemotzin,  100. 
Cuauxicalli,  147. 
Cuitlacs,  45. 
Cuitlahuac,  134. 
Cuitlahuatzin,  100. 
Culiacan,  52,  54. 

Dances,  306. 
De  Lesseps,  22. 
Divorce,  230. 
Drama,  302. 
Drawing,  317. 
Drunkenness,  233. 

Education,  214. 
Ehecatonathiu,  109. 
Electors,  87,  180. 
Eloquence,  299. 
Embalming,  210. 
Epcoatl,  146. 

Famine,  235. 

Fasts,  171. 

Feasts,  179. 

Feather-work,  93,  185,  326. 

Fire,  creation  of,  105  ;  Feast  of  the 

Renewal  of,  167  ;  sacrifice  to  god 

of,  128,  170. 


INDEX. 


339 


Fishing,  265. 

Flags,  246. 

Flint  implements,  280. 

Moating  islands,  59,  69,  254. 

Floral  decorations,  327. 

Food,  288. 

Forests,  destruction  of,  259. 

Fortifications,  251. 

Fountains,  146. 

Fruits,  291. 

Funeral  caves,  210. 

Furniture,  294. 

Games,  308. 
Gardens,  94,  147,  258. 
( riants,  32. 

Gladiatorial  combats,  161,  164. 
Goazocoalco  River,  22. 
God,  Aztec  idea  of,  109. 
Granaries,  257. 
Grijalva,  31. 
Guanajuato,  21,  30. 
Guardians,  232. 
Guatemala,  40. 

Hamateuctli,  137. 

Hanging,  237. 

Hieroglyphics,  317. 

Huatusco,  fortress  of,  252. 

Iluaxtepec,  garden  of,  259. 

I  fueiteopixqui,  151. 

1  luepilli,  293. 

Huexotzinco,  Republic  of,  31. 

Huitzilihuitl,  70. 

Huitzilipochtli,   52,   104,   106,   108, 

130;  birth  of,  131  ;  feast  of,  176; 

statue  of,  131  ;  temple  of,  81. 
Huitziton,  51. 
Huixtocihuatl,  134. 
Human  sacrifices,  56,  58,  161,  164. 
Hunting,  263. 
Hymns,  305. 

Ideographic  paintings,  102,  313. 

Idols,  13S;  number  of,  140. 

tndigo,  316. 

Intemperance,  laws  regarding,  78. 

Irrigation,  256. 

Itzacoatl,  73. 


Ixcuina,  135. 
Ixtliton,  135. 
Iztaccinteutl,  146. 
Iztacihuatl,  21. 
Iztamal,  34;  ruins  of,  35. 
Iztamna,  34. 

JALAPA,  19. 

Jewellers,  281,  325. 
Jewels,  294. 
Jonaces,  45. 
Judges,  226. 
Justice,  love  of,  213. 

Kings,  authority  of,  184;  election 
of,  181. 

Lacandons,  36. 

Lakes,  23  ;  drying  up,  274. 

Lands,  division  of,  191  ;  royal,  190 

Language,  296. 

Laws,  228. 

Lawyers,  absence  of,  228. 

Lorillard  City,  36. 

Macuicai.i.i,  146. 

Magistrates,  226,  270. 

Maize,  256,  2S9. 

Mankind,     annihilation     of,     109; 

transformed  into  monkeys,  107. 
Manuscripts,  320. 
Maps,  [89,  314 
Markets,  97,  267. 
Marriage,  201,  231. 

Matlacuye,  Mount,  44. 
Mat-makers,  284. 
Maxatla,  71,  74. 
Maximilian,  42. 
Mayapan,  35. 

Mayas,  t,^  45;  ruins  of,  35. 
Mazahuas,  45. 
Mazatecs,  45. 
Mi  dicines,  2S5. 
Menagei  ies,  93. 
MequeB,  45. 
Merchants,  266,  271. 
Metals,  working  of,  324. 
Metamorphosis,  138. 
Metempsychosis,  in. 


34-0 


INDEX. 


Mexi,  53. 

Mexicatls,  53. 

Mexico,  City  of,  96;  coat-of-arms 
of,  57  ;  divisions  of,  31,  97  ;  first 
inhabitants  of,  31;  productions 
of,  20;  temperature  of,  19,  23; 
temple  of,  142,  150. 

Mexitli,  53,  130. 

Mexitliteohuatzin,  152. 

Meztli,  117,  130. 

Michoacan,  Kingdom  of,  31,  38. 

Mictlan,  ill. 

Mictlancihuatl,  105,  ill,  130. 

Mictlanteuctli,  no,  115,  130. 

Military  decorations,  77. 

Minatitlan,  23. 

Miquiztli,  140. 

Mixcoatl,  134. 

Mixes  Mountains,  23. 

Miztec  Mountains,  22,  30. 

Miztecs,  45,  209. 

Molcaxcax,  251. 

Money,  269. 

Montezuma,  see  Moteuczoma. 

Moteuczoma  I.,  73,  84,  181  ;  death 
of,  100. 

Moteuczoma  II.,  41,  44,  73,  84,  87  ; 
asylum  founded  by,  96 ;  corona- 
tion of,  86 ;  despotism  of.  90 ; 
election  of,  86  ;  extravagance  of, 
91  ;  harem  of,  90;  his  fondness 
for  order,  94  ;  palace  of,  92  ;  re- 
ligious zeal  of,  95  ;  war  against 
Otomites,  88. 

Moteuczoma  Ilhuicamina,  see  Mo- 
teuczoma I. 

Moteuczoma  Xocoyotzin,  see  Mo- 
teuczoma II. 

Motolinia,  260,  284. 

Mulattoes,  27. 

Municipal  measures,  98. 

Music,  118,  246,  304. 

Nahuas,  38,  51,  53. 

Nahuatlacs,  43,  51  ;  cosmogony  of, 

104. 
Names,  199. 
Nanahuatzin,  117. 
Napateuctli,  136. 


Nauhcampatapetl,  21. 
Nazahualpilli,  124. 
Nezahualcoyotl,  72,  302 ;    laws  of, 

236. 
Nobles,  classes  of,  188. 
Noche  triste,  94. 
Nochitztli,  262. 
Nopalitzin,  42. 
Notre-Dame  de  Guadeloupe,  chapel 

of.  137- 
Numeration,  319. 

Oajaca,  23. 

Oaths,  141,  228. 

Obsidian,  280. 

Ococingo,  36. 

Olmecs,  33,  41. 

Omacatl,  136. 

Omeacatlomacatl,  136. 

Omecihuatl,  115. 

Ometeuctli,  115,  152. 

Omuchcos,  45. 

Ontocas,  45. 

Opochtli,  134. 

Oratory,  299. 

Orizava,  19;  peak  of,  21. 

Orthography,  ambiguity  in,  297. 

Ossuaries,  147. 

Otomites,  41,  45,  99. 

Oxomoco,  105. 

Paints,  316. 

Palenque,  36. 

Papaloapam  River,  22. 

Papatucos,  45. 

Paper,  315. 

Pastimes,  308. 

Paynal,  133. 

Penances,  107. 

Pefion,  94. 

Perote's  chest,  21. 

Physicians,  285. 

Plants,  39,  260  ;  medicinal,  285. 

Plebeians,  wretchedness  of,  195. 

Poetry,  301. 

Police,  227. 

Polygamy,  71,  204. 

Popocatepetl,  21. 

Porters,  273. 


INDEX. 


341 


Potters,  2S3. 
Poyautlan,  146. 
Precious  stones,  281. 
Priestesses,  1 56. 
Priests,  151. 
Prisons,  147,  237. 
Primogeniture,  181,  190. 
Property,  landed,  189. 
Public  buildings,  146. 
Punishments,  215,  225. 

Quetzacoatl,  39,99,  104,  107,  113, 
119;  children  consecrated  to, 
159;  death  of,  122;  priests  of, 
158  ;  temple  of,  145. 

Quimalpopoca,  72. 

Quinatzin,  60. 

Rafis,  272. 
Rains,  periodic,  24. 
Records,  192. 
Red-pepper  plants,  30. 
Rio  Blanco,  22. 
Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  22. 
Rio  Colorado,  22. 
Rio  d'Alvarado,  22. 
Rio  de  las  Vueltas,  23. 
Rio  de  Tabasco,  23. 
Rio  Paso,  23. 
Rivers,  22. 
Roads,  272. 
Ruins,  Maya,  35. 

Sacrifices,  human,  56,  58,  161, 
164;  ministers  of,  162;  of  ani- 
mals, 166. 

Sacrificial  altars,  73. 

Salt  works,  134. 

Santiago,  59. 

Scales,  269. 

Schools,  public,  223. 

Sculpture,  322. 

Seminaries,  146,  223. 

Seris,  244. 

Sierra  de  la  Malenchc,  44. 

Sierra  de  San  Andres  Tuxtla,  2 }. 

Sierra  Madre,  21. 

Silver  mines,  21. 

Slavery,  234. 


Smallpox,  too. 

Smoking,  292. 

Soap,  295. 

Soldiers,  238;  superstition  of,  196. 

Soltecs,  45. 

Soothsayers,  197. 

Soul,  immortality  of,  no. 

Sovereigns,  wealth  of,  194. 

Sowing,  256. 

Spaniards,  arrival  of,  99. 

Speeches,  299. 

Sports,  30S. 

Springs,  23. 

Standards,  246. 

Stone-cutters,  281. 

Sugar-cane,  291. 

Superstitions,  169,  196,  203. 

Surgeons,  286. 

TACUBA,  king  of,  181. 

Tanners,  284. 

Tarascos,  38. 

Taxes,  192. 

Techichi,  205,  261. 

Tecitzin,  137.       » 

Tehuacan,  23. 

Tehuantepec  River,  23. 

Tcicu,  136. 

Telpochtilztli,  159. 

Temalacatl,  78. 

Temascalli,  287. 

Temperate  Lands,  18. 

Temple,  of  Huitzilipochtli,  81  ;  of 
Mexico,  142,  150;  of  Quetza- 
coatl, 145;  of  Teotihuacan,  149; 
of  Tlaloc,  145. 

Temples,  142  ;  used  as  forts,  253. 

Tenayuca,  42. 

Tenoch,  56. 

Tenochcos,  54,  58. 

Tenochtitlan,  275,  279;  divisions 
of,  59  ;  founding,  57. 

Teocalli,  142. 

Teocipatli,  1 12. 

Tcopan,  142. 

Teopatli,  154. 

I '(  opictoms,  137. 

Teoteoinan,  137. 

Teoteuctli,  1  =;■■ 


342 


INDEX. 


Teotihuacan,  117;  sanctuary  of,  41; 

temple  of,  149. 
Teotl,  109. 
Teotlahuiani,  134. 
Tepanecs,  43,  69. 
Tequechmecaniani,  134. 
Tetzahuitl,  131. 

Tezcatlipoca,  106,  112,  11S;  chil- 
dren consecrated  to,  1 59  ;  feast 
of,  173;  prayer  to,  115;  temple 
of,  145. 

Tezcatzoncatl,  134. 

Tezcoco,  garden  of,  258  ;  lake  of, 
23,  42. 

Tezozomoc,  69. 

Theatre,  302. 

Thieves,  231. 

Threshing-floors,  257. 

Tiacapan,  136. 

Titles,  hereditary,  189. 

Tizoc,  80,  181. 

Tlacaelel,  78. 

Tlacahuepan-Cuexotzin,  133. 

Tlacatecolotl,  1 10. 

Tlachquiaucho,  98. 

Tlacb,  136. 

Tlacopan,  Kingdom  of,  31. 

Tlacotalpan,  73. 

Tlaelquani,  135. 

Tlahuicos,  43. 

Tlaloc,  106,  123;  cross  of,  126; 
temple  of,  145. 

Tlalocaltecuhtli,  106. 

Tlalocan,  1 1 1. 

Tlalocateuctli,  123. 

Tlalocs,  126. 

Tlalxico,  146. 

Tlamencs,  273. 

Tlapallan,  121. 

Tlapotlazenan,  134. 

Tlatecuin,  135. 

Tlatelolco,  59. 

Tlatelolcos,  54,  58. 

Tlatonathiu,  109. 

Tlatquimelolteuctli,  1 52. 

Tlaxcala,  44,  9S  ;  Republic  of,  31. 

Tlaxcaltecs,  44,  100 ;  fort  built  by, 

Tlazoteotl,  135. 


Tlelatiloyan,  146. 
Tletonathiu,  109. 
Tollan,  38,  42,  54,  130. 
Tolotlan  River,  52. 
Toltecs,  23^  3s- 
Tonacacihuatl,  104. 
Tonacatecuhtli,  104. 
Tonacavohua,  128. 
Tonantzin,  136. 
Tonathiu,  117. 
Topiltzin,  40,  162. 
Totonacs,  128. 

Traitors,  punishment  of,  229. 
Tribunals,  226. 
Tribute,  191. 

Truth,  Aztec  love  of,  215. 
Tula,  see  Tollan. 
Tulapam,  t,3- 
Tulare,  38. 
Tuspango  River,  32. 
Tzatzitepetl,  119. 
Tzompango,  55. 
Tzompatli,  147. 

Usumacinta  River,  23. 
Uxmal,  ruins  of,  35. 

Valenciana  mine,  21. 
Vanilla,  27. 
Vegetation,  27,  29. 
Vera  Cruz,  32. 
Volcanoes,  21. 
Votan,  34. 

Warm  Lands,  18. 
Weavers,  283. 
Winding  River,  23. 
Wine,  291. 
Wilchcraft,  233. 
Worship,  forms  of,  141. 

Xacatkucti.i,  133. 
Xalisco,  Province  of,  52. 
Xalixenses,  40. 
Xaotl,  [38. 
Xapan,  138. 
Xipe,  172. 
Xipetotec,  136. 


INDEX. 


343 


Xiutecuhtli,  128. 
Xoalteuctli,  130,  199. 
Xoalticitl,  130,  199. 
Xochimilcos,  43,  55. 
Xocoyotzin,  136. 
Xolotl,  42,  55,  116,  1 18. 
Xomichi,  57. 


Yacateuctli,  133. 
Yayauhauqui,  104. 
Yellow  fever,  18,  27. 
Yucatan,  31,  ^. 

Zapotecs,  45. 
Zumarraga,  124. 


GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


3  3125  00041  9248 


